


Control (Stray Kids Power AU)

by spearones (orphan_account)



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-26 04:27:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 39
Words: 35,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14992754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/spearones
Summary: PROJECT 'STRAY KIDS' WILL NOW COMMENCE.WARNING: ALL SUBJECTS ARE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.APPROACH AT YOUR OWN RISK.





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 0.1**

“Subject #001, it’s time to go,”

The boy look up at the guard. He saw threads, they were strung about his entire body, connecting to each other like a web. Most of the threads were a silvery-white color. A few were turning a dark shade of red near his head.

The boy reached out with a finger and touched the guard’s forehead lightly. The man immediately recoiled from his touch but the red threads instantly disappeared.

He smiled at the guard kindly, “You were starting to get a headache, right? Don’t worry, I made it better.”

His eyes widened in shock. He  _ had _ been getting a headache but it was gone now. He shook his head in disbelief.

“This way, follow me. You need to report to Lab 9.”

“How come?” He asked.

The guard snorted, “For what else? Testng.”

A pair of handcuffs clamped onto his wrists. He lowered his head in silence as the guard shoved him towards the door.

He hated testing.

**Chapter 0.2**

The boy sat on the edge of his bed. He had one leg drawn up next to him and the other leg hung down.

He kicked his leg once and let his toes lightly skim the ground. The floor underneath him trembled.

He smiled to himself and let his toes touch the floor. Again, the ground shook.

The door to his room slammed open.

“Subject #002, stop immediately.”

A group of guards walked in. They were each aiming their stun guns at him.

The boy calmly rested one foot on the ground. The earth stopped shaking, “Got a new toy?” he asked, tone cool. The stun guns were different.

One guard clipped his stun gun to his side, “We can stun you from a distance now so don’t try anything.” The boy almost snorted.

The guard walked to where he was sitting. He grabbed him and the boy felt the familiar cold metal of handcuffs on his wrists.

“We are to escort you to Lab 9.”

The boy sighed and hopped off his bed nimbly. Both of his feet hit the ground and sent a harsh tremor through the floor. The entire room shook.

The guards tensed but nothing happened. The boy motioned towards the door, wrists still shackled.

“Lead the way.”

**Chapter 0.3**

He heard the sound of approaching footsteps. One, two, three. Three people.

He leaned his back against the wall. His eye began to twitch his blindfold.

The door opened and he flinched from the noise. Two pairs of footsteps. Two people had entered his room, one stood outside in the hall.

“Subject #003, we are here to escort you to Lab 9 for testing.”

Loud. His voice was too loud.

The boy stood up and rubbed the piece of cloth covering the top of his face, trying to stop his still twitching eye. He heard the two men step back hurriedly and pulled out their stun guns. He snorted.

“Calm down, I’m not taking it off.”

They hesitated before approaching him. He held out his arms and let the handcuffs clamp onto his wrists.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, it was pushing him, guiding him to the door.

It was insulting.

“I can walk fine.” He snapped. The guard touching him instantly recoiled.

“F-follow us then.”

He listened for their footsteps and walked steadily behind them. He didn’t need any help.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 0.4**

_ Bang. _

_ Bang. _

_ Bang. _

The boy sat on his bed and watched the door. A layer of ice was spread over the outside. He watched the ice begin to crack; he knew it wouldn’t hold for long.

He took in a deep breath and exhaled through his nose. His cold breath briefly formed a cloud in front of his face before disappearing.

The door finally flew open. Shards of ice flew everywhere; they shone like diamonds.

The boy didn’t even blink.

A guard ran inside and immediately shuddered from the cold, “S-subject #004, y-you are to report L-lab 9 for t-testing.” His teeth chattered from the cold.

The boy stood up and walked towards the door.

“W-wait!” The guard cried. He hurriedly pulled out a pair of handcuffs. They were clamped onto his wrists. The metal rings were soon coated in a thin layer of ice.

“T-this way.”

The boy said nothing and walked out of his room. He did his best to keep his face blank.

**Chapter 0.5**

He ignored the footsteps approaching his door.

He ignored the click of the lock.

He ignored the guard approaching his bed.

He just lay there, pretending to be asleep, pretending he didn’t exist, pretending he was anywhere but  _ there _ .

But he knew he couldn’t stay this way forever, so he waited.

A hand reached out and grabbed his wrist. He smiled as the guard reeled back, cursing, his hand undoubtedly burned.

“Get up.” he snapped, “I know you’re not asleep.”

“I would have been if you had left me alone.” He replied, sitting up smoothly.

The guard shook his head, “I’m here to take you to Lab 9 for testing.”

The boy snorted in response but didn’t say anything. The guard slung a pair of handcuffs out, “Wrists. Now.”

The boy smirked, “Be careful, don’t burn yourself again.”

The guard grumbled something and clamped the cuffs around his thin wrists. The metal immediately turned red with heat.

“Stop that.” The guard snapped, “I know you can control it, stop.”

He ‘hmph’d’ but the metal cooled to it’s normal silver color.

The guard shook his head, “Come on, let’s go.” He shoved him towards the door roughly.

“Don’t touch me.” He snapped, “Unless you wanna get burned again.”

The guard didn’t say anything but he took two steps back, hand reaching for his stun gun.

The boy rolled his eyes and walked to the door.

**Chapter 0.6**

The boy pressed his back against the wall. He was standing next to the door, waiting.

The door slammed open.

“Subject #006, we’re here to-”

The boy’s hand shot out and a gust of wind blew from behind the guard and sent him flying across the room.

He made a run for the door, to escape.

A wave of shock tore painfully through his body. His muscles spasmed and he collapsed to the ground, a choked gasp tearing from his mouth.

Another guard stood outside, stun gun in hand. Small electric shocks travelled down the wires down to where the boy lay. He shuddered, panting.

The wires retracted and two guards grabbed his arms and jerked him to his feet. He couldn’t stand, his body was still too weak.

The guard shook his head, “It didn't work last time, it's not gonna work this time. Give up already.”

The boy glared at him. A pair of handcuffs were clamped onto his shaking wrists and he was pulled down the hallway, feet dragging against the ground beneath him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 0.7**

“Subject #007 you need to-”

The boy focused his mind on the door and  _ pushed _ . It slammed shut in the guards’ face. Again. The guard outside grumbled something to himself.

The boy laughed quietly.

The door opened cautiously. The boy didn’t stop it this time. He just watched the guards walk in.

“Can I help you?” He asked, smirking.

One guard stepped forward, “Subject #007, you are to report to Lab 9 for testing immediately.”

“Mhm.” He said. His eyes drifted to the door. It slammed shut again, trapping the guards in the room.

One aimed his stun gun and shot. The boy focused his mind on the metal ends connected to the wires. They stopped just barely before his chest. He let them fall harmlessly to the ground.

He looked around at the guards. They eyed him warily.

He smiled brightly and held his wrists out, “Alright.”

The guards froze, anticipating a trick but he just stood there, arms out and smiling.

One stepped forward cautiously and placed the cuffs on him. He motioned the boy to go out the door.

He noticed that they kept their distance from him.

**Chapter 0.8**

The boy sat on the ground, leaning against the wall.

His door opened and two guards walked in.

“Subject #008, you are ordered to-”

The boy tilted his head to the side and tuned his voice out. He closed his eyes and gently shifted the world forward.

Then, he was walking down the hall. Wrists shackled, guards walking on either side of him.

A minute and thirty seconds had passed by in less than a blink of an eye.

He pursed his lips slightly, mind still trying to catch up.

Guards. Subject #008. Lab 9. Testing. Handcuffs. Hallway.

He glanced to his sides to see if the guards noticed anything but they were both walking normally.

He smiled softly to himself and kept walking.

**Chapter 0.9**

The boy hummed quietly to himself.

His door slammed open and a guard walked in. The boy smiled at him, “Hello.”

The guard ignored his greeting, “Subject #009, come with me.”

His head tilted to the side in a curious manner, “Why?”

“Don’t ask questions.” The guard snapped.

The boy took a step back in surprise but the guard reached forward and grabbed his wrists. A pair of handcuffs were clamped on, the metal dug into his skin.

He was shoved out the door so hard he almost fell.

“Get moving.” The guard pushed him again.

A cold wave of fear washed over the boy as he stumbled out of his room. His eyes shone with tears that he refused to let fall.

“A-alright.” He couldn’t stop his voice from shaking, “Let’s g-go then.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First official chapter!
> 
> Enjoy~

“They’re all here, sir.”

The head scientist smiled to himself, “Good. Give me their files.”

The guard handed him a stack of folders. He took them and walked to the door leading to the testing chamber.

“Let’s get started.”

______________________________

Nine boys stood in a perfectly straight line. They were each flanked by a pair of guards. They glanced at each other nervously, almost baffled by the presence of other human beings besides guards or scientists.

They tried to keep looking at each other but were pushed back roughly by a guard each time they leaned out too far. But they noticed.

The noticed that one was wearing a blindfold. That one was barely able to stand. That one’s eyes shone like diamonds.

And they desperately wanted to know who each other was because for so long, they had each been alone, by themselves. The only things that had existed in each of their worlds before now were guards, scientists, tests, and a deep hollow ache.

They tried, they all tried, but they couldn’t help it; they hoped. For a friend, for a family, for something other than what they had now.

A door slammed shut and a scientist along with a group of heavily armored guards walked towards them. Another group of scientists were watching from the observation deck high above them.

The scientist stopped before them and smiled generously, “Hello Subjects.”

None of them responded. He kept smiling.

“We have decided that it is time that the nine of you finally meet each other. You’re welcome. Guards, you may go now.”

The guards that had been standing on either side of each boy began to file out of the room. The boys still stood there, freely stealing glances at one another.

“However, there is one thing that must be taken care of before we go any further.” He pulled out a single folder and flipped through it for a moment before glancing up at the boy with the blindfold. As if sensing his stare, the boy turned his head as if he too were looking at the scientist even though he couldn’t possibly see him.

“Subject #003, you may remove your blindfold.”

The boy’s mouth opened slightly in shock. It had been so long since he had been allowed to see. Too long.

His hands were shaking as he reached up and untied the blindfold. The strip of white cloth fluttered to the ground.

He looked around. Everything was white. The room, his clothes, the clothes of the boys around him.

The boys.

He looked at them, truly looked at them. And suddenly, he felt it.

A wave of shock so powerful he wondered briefly if one of the guards had shot him with a stun gun by mistake.

His legs trembled before giving. He fell to his knees. The eight boys around him collapsed as well.

Because they all felt it, that wave, that shock, and with it came something else. A feeling. A sense.

They looked at each other,  _ really _ looked, like they were seeing each other for the first time.

And together, they realized what that new feeling was. They felt as if, for the first time in their lives, they weren’t alone.

Something was different. Something had changed inside of them and even though this feeling was foreign, they never wanted it to leave.

The scientist smiled and began to talk; they had forgotten he was even there.

The boys were barely listening to him. They were still gaping at each other, trying desperately to figure out what to do, what to say.

A voice blared across the loudspeaker.

“PROJECT STRAY KIDS WILL NOW COMMENCE.”

They all stood up and looked around, suddenly afraid.

The scientist began to walk away, back to the safety of the observation deck.

“Guards,” he called behind him, “Make sure your guns are set to stun. We don’t want to hurt the boys too badly. Yet.”

Each one holstered their guns and adjusted their protective armor.

“Begin, now!”

And the guards began to open fire.


	5. Chapter 5

One boy frowned slightly but lifted his foot high and then slammed it against the floor, hard. The ground shook with a tremendous force, hard enough that everyone in the testing room fell except for him. 

He glanced at the other boys apologetically, “Sorry,” he said, pulling the one closest to him back to his feet, “I just reacted, sorry.” The other boy shook his head, “It’s fine.”

“What do you want?” One boy yelled loudly. He glared angrily at where the scientists were watching from the observation deck.

A voice boomed from the loudspeaker, “Do what you’ve always wanted to do: fight back.”

The boy muttered something to himself but he focused his glare on the group of guards that were clumsily stumbling to their feet.

“You want us to fight back?” He growled, “Fine then.”

He crouched to the floor and slammed his palm against the ground. The rest of the boys watched in awe as ice crystals formed on the ground and raced towards the guards. The crystals grew into sharp, jagged points and slammed into the guards. They fell to the ground again, shouting in pain.

The boy stood up and the ice shattered into tiny pieces and settled on the other boys’ shoulders harmlessly.

A laugh sounded over the loudspeaker, “Very good Subject #002, Subject #004. Let’s continue.”

The room suddenly went pitch black. As if by instinct, the boys moved closer together, shoulders bumping into one another.

“What the hell is going on.” One muttered.

Someone let out a strangled scream.

“What is it?”

“What happened?”

“Who was that?”

“Hold on, hold on!” One boy finally yelled. He snapped his fingers and a bright orange flame appeared in his hand. It cast an eerie glow against their faces.

He turned until they found the source of the yell. One of the boy’s lay shaking on the ground. Two pieces of metal with wires attached to them were pierced into his arm through the sleeve of his white uniform. He had been hit by a stun gun.

“Shit.” One of them breathed.

“Move, move, I can help him.” Another boy cried. He shoved through the group and knelt down next to the boy. He removed the metal pieces from his arm and then scooped the boy into his arms and held him tightly against his chest. He gently rocked him back and forth.

After a moment, he stood up and pulled the other boy up with him. They were both shaking.

The boy’s eyes were open wide, “What are you?”

He just smiled softly, “Just someone that cares.”

The other boy opened his mouth to thank him but the lights flickered back on again, blinding them briefly. Then, they saw it,

Another group of guards, their stun guns pointed at them.

“Ready.” One yelled.

“Aim.”

“Fire!”

The boys tensed and braced themselves for the incoming pain.

“No!” One yelled. He ran in front of them and moved his arms as if he were pushing something away. A powerful gust of wind flew from behind him. It caught the wires mid-flight and sent them flying back to where they came from. The guards all collapsed to the ground, twitching in pain from their own weapon-fire.

They tried to stand up but the first boy slammed his foot against the ground again. It shook violently but this time, only the guards fell. The tremor hadn’t affected the ground the other boys were standing on at all, he had made sure of it.

“Enough!” He yelled, voice loud and clear, “Stop it, stop trying to hurt us, leave us alone!”

The loudspeaker blared again, “That is all the testing we will do for today. Thank you for your cooperation, you will now be escorted back to your rooms.”

They all stiffened in shock. They hadn’t thought about that, about being all alone again. They looked at each other, almost sad. Pairs of guards began to file into the room. They grabbed each boy by the arms.

One laughed nervously, “Hopefully we’ll see each other again.” He and the first boy were being pulled in the same direction.

The other boy nodded, he looked closely at the boy and tried to memorize his face. He had a spray of freckles across his cheeks and nose. They looked like stars. He was determined to remember him, to remember all of them. “What’s your name?” He asked, voice low.

The boy frowned, “Subject #007.” He spoke with an accent.

He shook his head, “No, what’s  _ your _ name, not the name they gave you. I’m not calling you by a number.” The other boy’s eyes widened in shock but his face melted into a warm smile.

The guards heard them and quickly began to pull the two farther away, “Come on,” one muttered, “You don't have names. Lets go.”

“Felix.” He called over his shoulder, “My name is Felix.”

He grinned as they were forced farther away from each other but he called back loudly enough for the other boy to hear him.

“Nice to meet you, Felix, I’m Subject #002. Call me Chan.”


	6. Chapter 6

He blinked, eyes still trying to adjust to seeing. They hadn’t made him put the blindfold back on and he hadn’t said anything either. They had just thrown him back in his room with a loud, _‘Subject #003, you will be notified when testing resumes.’_

Subject #003. Him. The possibility that there were other Subjects besides him hadn’t really dawned on him until now.

Subject #002. The boy whose footsteps made the ground tremble.

Subject #004. The boy with ice at his fingertips.

The one who held a flame in his hand. Another who pushed the wind. One who eased pain, who cared.

Someone who cared. He laughed bitterly to himself; he couldn’t remember the last time someone cared about him.

And the others. The nameless ones who hadn’t shown whatever their abilities may be. It made him wonder.

He was wondering about a lot of things really.

He knew he should be focusing on what was key to his survival: figuring out their powers, their strengths, weaknesses, and how he could possibly beat them in a fight if he had to but no, he was wondering about something else.

About _them_. He wondered about them, what they were like. What their names were.

 _Their names_.

More than anything, he wanted to know their names. He didn’t believe the guards and scientists when they told him he had no name, that his name was ‘Subject #003.’

He didn’t believe it because he knew his name.

“Minho.” He murmured, only for himself to hear, “My name is Minho.”

An unfamiliar emotion welled up in his chest. He swallowed, trying to choke back his tears but in the end, he let them roll down his cheeks silently.

It was all too much.

Being able to see again, seeing those boys, knowing he wasn’t alone.

He hated being here, hated it, but, he hoped quietly in his heart that he would see those boys again.

He sat down on the edge of his bed and waited for the tears to stop. He was exhausted, his body felt heavy. He closed his eyes, back into the familiar darkness. It welcomed him like an old friend.

Only it wasn’t completely dark.

Far away, there was a faint flicker of light.

He opened his eyes. He saw his room, no flicker, nothing. He frowned and closed them.

And there it was, that little flicker. It looked almost closer.

He took a deep breath, “Focus.” He muttered to himself, “Control yourself.”

He braced himself and reached out with his mind towards the flicker of light. It got closer and was then right in front of him.

He opened his eyes. No flicker. Closed them. There it was.

He reached out a little farther, hesitantly, and touched the little light.

_‘Hello?’_

He almost fell of his bed in surprise. That wasn’t his voice. He swallowed, throat dry, and tried to speak. But it wasn’t speaking, it was thinking and hoping whoever else was there heard him.

 _‘Who are you_?’ He asked.

A pause, then, a quiet: ‘ _Who are_ you _?’_

‘ _It’s rude to answer a question with another question and plus, I asked first.’_ His thoughts came out in a jumbled rush. He was nervous, he realized. Afraid even.

The other person froze almost in surprise.

‘ _I’m Subject #008.’_ The other person said finally, _‘I’m guessing you’re also a Subject.’_

 _'I am.’_ He replied _, ‘Subject #003. But don’t call me that, that’s not me. My name is Minho.’_

He felt Subject #008 pause for a moment before answering, _‘Alright Minho.’_ He sounded cautious, almost wary.

_'What’s your name? Your actual name?’_

Another pause, _‘I've been tricked my entire life, how can I trust you? You could be a scientist running a test on me for all I know.’’_

He frowned slightly even though he knew the other couldn’t see him, ‘ _You have a point but just know that I've been tricked my whole life too.’_

He realized he could almost feel the other’s emotions if he focused enough. The other boy felt sad and confused but almost hopeful.

He didn’t say anything back for a long time, _‘Seungmin.’_ It was quiet, almost a whisper. He sounded scared. Minho felt a sudden and strong desire to protect him.

 _‘Nice to meet you, Seungminnie._ ’ He kept his thoughts quiet and gentle.

‘ _Yeah, you too._ ’ A shy smile.

He felt a warm feeling in his chest. He hoped Seungmin could feel it too.


	7. Chapter 7

It was one of those rare occasions that Felix let the guards into his room the first time they tried. No slamming the door in their faces, no tricks, nothing. He just smiled at them as he usually did. 

“Where are we going?” He asked brightly as he was led down a long white hallway. His hands were cuffed in front of him as usual even though it was practically pointless, they wouldn’t be able to stop him if he wanted to do something.

The guards never answered him.

He was pushed through a door labeled “Lab 3”. Felix smiled as he walked in.

“Hey Chan.” He called softly.

The other boy glanced at him from the corner of his eye and grinned. The last boy’s eyes darted between the two nervously.

A voice boomed over the loudspeaker, “Testing begins now.”

Felix frowned. It was just the three of them, the guards had already disappeared.

“What do they want us to do?” He muttered.

Then, the ground began to shake.

Chan’s eyes widened as the other two looked at him questioningly. He held his hands up defensively, “That’s not me, I swear I’m not doing that.”

A huge piece of the white floor opened and slid away. Underneath was a massive pool of water. A different group of guards filed inside. They were heavily armored as they had been before.

The other boy sucked in a harsh breath at the sight of the water, “ _ No. _ ” He whispered.

Chan reached out and placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder, “Hey, it’s okay, you’re gonna be okay. I’m Chan, this is Felix, what’s your name?”

His eyes widened, “S-subject #009.”

Felix smiled kindly, “It’s okay, you can trust us. We’re stuck here together, yeah?”

“I guess we are.” He murmured, “Then, I’m Jeongin.”

The guards were getting closer. Jeongin reached a shaking hand out towards the water. A bit of it rose above the surface. It trembled before falling. Little waves rippled outwards from where it fell.

Jeongin shook his head, “I’m sorry, I can’t do it, I just can’t.”

“It’s okay.” Chan smiled, “I’ll look after you until you can.”

His eyes widened in surprise, “T-thanks.” He smiled at them hesitantly.

“Watch out.” Felix warned, the guards were surrounding them.

Chan laughed softly, “No problem.” He knelt down and placed his fingertips on the ground.

The ground shook and cracks began to form on the ground beneath the guards’ feet. Chunks of the white floor broke away to reveal brown earth underneath.

The earth began to shake and swell up. It moved quickly across the floor in a dark mass and clamped onto the guards’ legs and feet locking them in place to the ground. They tried to move and free themselves but the earth held fast.

A few fumbled with their stun guns and shot at them. Felix raised a hand and the wires stopped midair.

Chan whistled appreciatively, “Telekinesis right?”

Felix shrugged, “I guess you could call it that. I usually just say that I can move stuff with my mind.”

Jeongin was watching them both in awe, “Amazing.” He breathed.

The guards were still trying to free themselves from the earth but with little success.

“Use it! Now!” One yelled, his voice muffled by the mask covering his face.

The boys glanced around trying to figure out what “it” was.

Another guard fumbled for something at his side. He finally gripped something and tossed it across the floor.

It was a small silver ball. A red light flickered on and off in the center of it.

“What is that?” Chan muttered. The other two shook their heads.

The red light stopped flickering. They watched it closely. Then, a shockwave burst from it and bounced throughout the room.

They felt it immediately, something was wrong.

Felix pressed a hand against his chest, confused, “This doesn’t feel right.”

Jeongin took a step back, “What was that thing? What did it do to me?” He asked fearfully.

Chan felt it too, “Get back.” He muttered, pushing the other two away from the thing.

Then, the wires fell to the ground harmlessly and the earth lost its grip on the guards and they realized what that thing had done.

Chan tapped his foot on the ground. Nothing happened.

Felix tried to focus but nothing would move.

Jeongin reached his hand out towards the water again but nothing happened.

Their powers were gone. That  _ thing _ had taken them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *is technically an action writer*
> 
> *questions every single action scene I write*


	8. Chapter 8

Chan tackled Jeongin and Felix to the ground as the guards shot again. He wrapped his arms around them tightly. 

The guards surged forward and tore them from each other harshly. A pair began to drag Jeongin towards the pool of water.

“No!” He shouted desperately, “Please don’t do this to me, not again,  _ please _ .” They ignored him.

“Stop it!” Felix yelled, kicking his legs out but a pair of guards held him back, “Let him go!”

They reached the edge of the pool and threw the boy in. A guard jumped in after and drug them both under the surface.

“What are you doing?” Chan whispered. He tried to break free, “What are you doing?” He repeated, yelling this time.

Jeongin burst from underneath the water, gasping for air. A pair of arms reached up and clamped onto him harshly. He struggled to break free for a moment before sinking back under.

Suddenly, every guard in the room flew backwards as if hit by an invisible force.

Felix stood in the center of the room, expression cold.

Then Chan felt it, the piece that had been missing inside of him was suddenly back; he felt whole again.

The ground began to shake and cracks began to spread across the floor. The force of it made the lights in the room flicker on and off.

Suddenly, the water in the pool began to shake and swell up. It burst out into the room soaking everyone; no water was left in the pool. The guard that had drug Jeongin underneath flew out and hit the ground with a wet smack.

Chan and Felix rushed to the edge. Jeongin lay curled tightly in on himself in the center of the now dry pool.

“Hold on,” Felix murmured, “I’ll get him.” He reached his hand and carefully lifted Jeongin’s body off the ground pulling him towards them. He reached out and grabbed hold of him once he was close enough.

He clung tightly to Felix as his tears mixed with the pool water, “I’m sorry,” he whispered, body shaking, “I’m so sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” Chan murmured as Felix slowly rocked him back and forth, “You didn’t do anything.”

“I could have hurt somebody.” They could barely hear him.

“But you didn’t,” Felix smiled softly at him. “So it’s alright.” Jeongin just shook his head and cried softly against his shoulder.

The loudspeaker sounded: “Testing is now over. Subjects will be escorted back to their rooms immediately.”

Chan sighed as they were pulled apart, “I guess this is goodbye for now.” He tried to smile, “We’ll be seeing eachother again though, yeah?”

Felix tried to smile too, “Yeah. We’ll see the others too, right Jeongin?”

The other boy just glanced at them with sad eyes.

Felix frowned, “What’s wrong?”

He just shook his head.

“I’m sorry.”

___________________________

“Report.”

“Sir, testing is going exactly as planned.”

“And what of the boys? How are they reacting to each other?”

“They seemed to have grown attached to one another despite not exactly knowing who they are, sir.”

“Attached?”

“Yes sir but we are using it to our advantage.”

“How so?”

“Well, we have noticed that if one or more of the boys are in danger, another, or several others, will use their powers to protect him. We have also seen that their power levels increase significantly during these situations.”

“Good, we need that power.”

“But sir, there’s also an issue.”

“What?”

“Well, unfortunately, we have also seen that some have a tendency to lose control over their powers. This could prove to be a danger to both themselves and the other subjects.”

“So what? A little bruising won’t hurt them.”

“Sir, with all due respect, I don’t think you understand. The powers these boys possess will do more than just ‘a little bruising.’”

“I don’t care and you will obey orders. I want results and if you have to put these boys through hell to get them then so be it.

“Yes sir, of course sir. What will you have us do?”

“Gather all nine of them together. Keep testing. I don’t care how you do it or what you do to them but I want results  _ now _ .”

“Yes sir, right away.”


	9. Chapter 9

_ ‘Hey.’ _

_ 'Hm?’ _

_ ‘Wave or do something.’ _

_ ‘What? Why?’ _

_ ‘Because I wanna know who you are. I know your voice, not your face. I’ll wave back, I promise.’ _

Minho sighed. He glanced around, checking to see if anyone was watching him.

All nine of them were gathered again but no one dared to speak. They knew that they were being watched, that there were people listening. It didn’t help that they each had the barrel of a gun pressed against their backs. It seemed like the guards had abandoned their stun guns and gone with the real deal instead. A wrong move could get you killed.

After he was certain no one was focused on him, he let his fingers flutter slightly. It wasn’t really a wave but he couldn’t do much else at the moment.

From the corner of his eye, he saw someone’s fingers wiggle. It was the boy two down on his right.

_ 'Did you see me?’  _ Seungmin asked.

_ ‘Yes.’ _

Minho felt the other boy hum with happiness. He had to fight to keep a smile from forming on his face.

Their connection had grown over the past few days forming an almost inseparable bond between the two. He didn’t have to close his eyes anymore to feel Seungmin’s presence in his mind and hear his thoughts. It was almost natural for their minds to be connected to the point that Minho felt a little empty when they weren’t speaking. Not that he had felt this way often, they had been talking almost non-stop since discovering their connection.

He finally felt the gun move from where it had been pressed against his back. The guards were moving away from them. However, they didn’t leave the room, just spread out against the white walls. Still, he saw the others visibly relax.

“Testing beings n-”

The loudspeaker was cut off by a deafening roar. The air screeched as a curtain of wind surrounded the boys and funneled upwards creating almost a wall around them.

They could see the dark silhouettes of the guards running towards them but they were caught up in the wind and thrown up into the air mercilessly if they got too close.

The air within the funnel stilled. The screeching stopped.

It was just the nine of them. They glanced at each other, unsure of what to do.

One boy stepped forward and faced them. It was undoubtedly the boy who had created the windstorm.

“I think it’s about time we got to know each other.” He smiled brightly at them, “I’ll go first: my name is Jisung and  _ not _ Subject #006 or whatever they call me. I wanna get out of here and I want to take all of you with me.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hhhhh sorry for disappearing >.< had some family stuff going on but I'm back now with a double update to compensate for being gone.
> 
> Enjoy!

Chan opened his mouth to say something but suddenly, a hail of bullets flew through Jisung’s windstorm. They quickly threw themselves to the ground.

“ _ What the hell? _ ” One boy shouted.

“My wind will only throw the bullets off a little, sorry!” Jisung yelled.

“Stop your wind!” Chan yelled back. They looked at him like he was crazy. “Just do it, okay? We have to fight our way out of this!”

“Do it!” Another boy yelled.

Jisung nodded slowly, “Get ready!” He took a deep breath and slowly, the wind stopped.

The guards saw them, “Stop now or-” He was cut off by an arc of fire sailing towards him. He dove out of the way just in time. The fire left black scorch marks behind it staining the white floor.

The guard staggered to his feet, “Subject #005, stop immedi-” Another wave of fire flew at him even quicker than the first. He stared in horror as it got closer and closer, he didn’t have time to get out of it’s way.

It stopped right in front of him. Looking at it was like looking Death itself straight in the eye.

One boy had his hand up, palm outstretched towards the guard. He held his head high and glared at the guard down the bridge of his nose, “Call me Subject #005 again and see what happens. I’ll burn you alive.” The guard said nothing, just scrambled away from the boy’s flames.

He heard a gunshot behind him and felt a chill go down his spine. He turned and his arrogant mask dropped with a soft gasp.

He was face to face with a wall of ice and staring at a frozen bullet trapped within it. It had been aimed right at his head.

One boy had his hands outstretched towards him. His eyes were wide. In fear, in shock, he wasn’t sure.

He opened his mouth but the loudspeaker drowned out his thanks.

“Guards are authorized to shoot. Your orders are to aim to wound, not kill.”

The boys tensed as gunshots sounded all around them but every bullet hit the ground as if they were being moved by an invisible force.

Felix inhaled sharply, his mind whirling frantically. It was doing it’s best to keep up but he had tried to do too much at once. Black spots danced across his vision but he blinked them away harshly. He couldn’t pass out, not now, he had to keep the others safe.

He felt someone’s back press against his, “You take that half, I’ll take the other.” His voice was surprisingly calm, it steadied Felix. 

He was worried for a moment but the other boy did his part. Bullets stopped midair and stayed there, trapped.

“You’re a lifesaver.” Felix murmured, hoping the other could hear him. He refocused on his half of the bullets, mind thankfully less fractured.

The earth began to shake as a storm of fire, wind, and ice raged around them. It was both beautiful and terrifying. It mixed and twirled together like a dance but left a path of destruction behind it. Even so, not one bit of it touched the boys. A small dome of wind circled around them knocking away debris and stray shards of ice.

Soon, only they were left standing. They stared at each other in awe. It surprised all of them really. The awe was from the amount of raw power each of them possessed. The surprise came from knowing that they had used that power to protect each other.

“We really are something aren’t we?” Chan murmured more to himself than anybody. No one said anything for awhile, they were still trying to process what had just happened.

Finally, the boy of fire cleared his throat softly. They all turned towards him. Red blush rose up on his neck but he spoke, voice shaking a little, “I’m Hyunjin.”

Jisung’s face broke out into a playful grin, “Will you burn us alive if we don’t call you that?”

Hyunjin smile matched his, “No, I won’t. But please,” his voice was soft, almost pleading, “Call me Hyunjin.”

Somehow, Jisung’s smile widened, “Don’t worry, we will."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I remember when I was writing this chapter, I had to rewrite it like, 3 times because it was so bad and each rewrite was completely different.


	11. Chapter 11

Felix slumped to the ground, exhausted.

Chan was by his side immediately, “What’s wrong?” he asked, eyes full of concern.

He smiled weakly at him, “I overdid it a little, that’s all.”

“That’s all? Felix, you look like you’re about to pass out.”

“Don’t hold your breath, I might actually.”

“ _ Felix _ .”

“Just being honest, Chan!”

Another boy knelt down next to them, he had been listening to the two. If he was curious about how they knew each other, it didn’t show. “Hey Felix,” his voice was soft, comforting, “I’m Woojin. I can help you if you want.”

Felix looked up at him with wide eyes. He nodded quickly but soon stopped, it was making him too dizzy. “Yes, please do help me O Kind One.”

Chan groaned inwardly. He turned to Woojin, eyes apologetic, “Ignore him please. He’s a little delirious.”

“I am not!”

“ _ Felix _ .”

Woojin just laughed softly at them. It was a nice laugh. He opened his arms towards Felix. The other boy didn’t hesitate to reach out and wrap his arms around him. He closed his eyes and smiled happily against Woojin’s chest, “Mmm hugs. I like hugs. You’re really warm.” Felix felt him laugh again.

Woojin let go all too soon, “Do you feel better?”

Felix blinked slowly, “Yes I do. Can I have another hug though?”

The other boy smiled in delight and pulled him against his chest again. It was safe and warm and comforting.

“Hi by the way.” Felix said, voice muffled against Woojin, “I’m Felix. That’s Chan.” he said, pointing at him. He shuffled so he could face the others, “Guys, this is Woojin, my favorite person in the whole world. He gives great hugs.”

Chan raised an eyebrow at him, “Are hugs the criteria for being named your ‘favorite person in the world’?”

He nodded happily, “As of right now, yes. Yes they are.”

He stood up, arms stretching towards the ceiling. Then, he walked over and draped himself over the back of another boy. “And this is Jeongin, my other favorite person in the world.” Jeongin’s eyes widened in surprise. Again, Chan groaned inwardly.

The loudspeaker sounded, “Testing is now over. Subjects are asked to cooperate when escorted back to their rooms.”

“Call me ‘Subject’ again and we’ll see about cooperation.” snarled Hyunjin. The others muttered their agreement.

“Hey,” One boy called softly, he spoke quickly, guards were pouring into the room, “Do you guys see anything when you close your eyes? Anything at all?”

“Like what?” Jisung asked.

“Like little lights.” Another boy said, “Do you see them?”

Slowly, they all nodded.

“They’re faint, but they’re there.” Woojin said. “Why? Do you know what they are?”

The two boys smiles’ lit up the entire room.

“Just wait.” The first boy whispered. The guards were close enough to hear, “You’ll see.”

Then they were grabbed by their arms and pulled them apart.

________________________________

They all felt a hollow pang of loneliness when they returned to their rooms. Even so, Jisung’s introduction rang in their ears: “ _...my name is Jisung and  _ not _ Subject #006 or whatever they call me. I wanna get out of here and I want to take all of you with me _ .” His words made them smile. It gave them a little hope for tomorrow and the next day. For now, that was enough.

Still smiling, they closed their eyes to sleep. But sleep never came because something lit up the darkness.

Eight lights shone like little stars against the dark night sky, so close, you could touch them.

So they did. And the loneliness they had felt faded into stardust.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The actual definition of "this chapter wrote itself and I was dragged along with it"


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another double update because I forgot to update this yesterday >.< Sorry guys.

' _Hello?’_

Seungmin almost fell off his bed. First of all, he wasn’t expecting anyone to talk to him right now. Second,  _ that wasn’t Minho _ . Seungmin could tell through their link that he was already asleep. 

He took a deep breath. This was technically a good thing, it meant that another one of them had figured out that they could communicate without actually being face to face. Still, having a voice in his head that wasn’t Minho’s scared Seungmin a little.

He sensed the other person’s unease, he needed to talk back or else they might go.

_ 'Hey. This is Seungmin. Who are you?’ _

_ ‘Seungmin? You weren’t one that already introduced themselves, right?’ _

_ ‘No, not yet at least. What about you? Do I know your name?’ _

A pause.

_ 'No. No one knows my name.  _ I  _ don’t know my name.’ _

Seungmin’s mouth opened slightly in shock. They had been called by their Subject names for, well, forever. But still, it seemed that each of them had remembered what their names had been before it had been replaced by a number.

_ Are you _ sure _?’ _

He felt a feeling of deep sadness wash over their growing link. It was a dark wavy blue.

_ 'Yeah.’ _

He frowned,  _ ‘What do I call you then?’ _

Another pause.

_ ‘I don’t know. Not by a number though. Just don’t call me anything right now. Not until I know for sure.’ _

_ ‘Until you know what for sure?’ _

_ ‘My name.’ _

Seungmin let out a soft  _ oh. _

_ 'Alright, I won’t call you anything until we know your name. Do you know your power though? So I know who you are when I see you next?’ _

_ ‘I’m the one with the ice.’ _

_ ‘The one that saved Hyunjin?’ _

_ ‘Yeah. Yeah, I guess.’ _

_ ‘That was kind of you.’ _

He felt a shift in the other’s emotions. A red going from dark to light and back. It didn’t feel bad but it didn’t feel great either.

_ 'Any of us would have done it. Or at least tried.’ _

_ ‘I hope so. We’re all we have.’ _

_ ‘Yeah. We’re not alone anymore.’ _

Seungmin smiled to himself softly. He felt the other doing the same. It was the blue of an early morning.

_ ‘You’re right, we’re not alone. And now that we have each other, we’re not letting go, are we?’ _

A stronger, bolder smile. A defiant one. It was golden yellow, like the sunrise.

_ ‘Never.’ _


	13. Chapter 13

Hyunjin’s door slammed open.

He jumped slightly as guards poured into his pitifully small room and pulled out their stun guns. His body hit the floor with a dull thud as electricity painfully coursed through his veins.

He lay there gasping for air before someone picked him up and tossed him unceremoniously over their shoulder.

His body was still trembling in the other person’s grasp, mind still in too much shock to comprehend what was going on.

His vision swam with dark spots before the world finally went black.

___________________________

Seungmin frowned as two guards rushed into his room. They didn’t even bother with handcuffs as they grabbed him by both arms and pulled him down the white hallways.

“Where are you taking me?” He muttered, talking to himself. He knew it was no use asking the guards; they wouldn’t answer anyway.

Suddenly, he knew where they were going. He knew what was about to happen.

He dug his heels into the ground. He needed to stop, he couldn’t do this. The guards didn’t even slow down, just drug him along.

“ _ Please _ ,” he whispered as tears began to streak down his face “Don’t do this to me. You said never again, you promised.  _ You promised _ .”

He felt a tug in the back of his mind.

_ ‘Seungmin? What’s wrong? What’s going on?’ _

“Minho.” He sobbed, not meaning to speak out loud but he couldn’t stop himself in time, “Minho  _ please _ , help me. Don’t let them do this to me.  _ Please _ .”

_ 'What is it?’ _ He sounded panicked.

“Minho  _ please _ ,” he was still whispering, “Help me.”

Even if he was trying to talk back, Seungmin couldn’t hear his voice anymore.

For the first time since seeing the other boys, Seungmin felt truly alone.

_________________________

Minho swallowed heavily as his connection with Seungmin abruptly shattered..

He got up and took a deep breath before slamming his foot against his door. It made a hollow but loud  _ thud _ . He kicked it again and again.

He reeled back as it slammed open. A single guard ran in, “What do you think you’re doi-”

Minho ripped off the guard’s mask before grabbing his collar and forcing him to look him in the eyes. He tore into the guard’s mind and shut it down harshly before letting go. He slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Minho carefully stepped around the guard’s body and into the hallway. It was thankfully empty.

He took a deep breath before extending his mind outwards, trying to find Seungmin.

He knew what he was looking for. In the short time he had been with the others, they had left imprints on Minho. He could find them if he reached out far enough.

He felt Woojin’s calm and caring blue, Felix’s bright, dazzling yellow, but none of them were Seungmin. He reached farther.  _ There. _

A timeless soul made from an inky blue so dark it was almost black. Seungmin.

He was far away but Minho could get to him, he had to.

_ ‘Don’t worry Seungmin, I’m gonna find you.’ _


	14. Chapter 14

Hyunjin sat up slowly, head pounding. 

This room was unlike any he had seen before. It was made entirely from a heavy gray cement. A single light bulb flickered from above. A thick layer of glass took up an entire wall, he could see dark figures huddled behind it.

A soft whimper made him turn. He gasped.

It was another boy, another subject.

He was tied up, arms pinned to his sides. A piece of cloth covered his mouth, muffling his voice. He was visibly shaking and tears ran steadily down his cheeks.

Hyunjin rushed forward and pulled the cloth away.

The boy exhaled, breath shaking, “P-please, you need to h-help me.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Hyunjin spoke softly, “I’m here for you, alright? You’re another subject right? I’ve seen you before, I’m Hyunjin. I don’t think I caught your name.” He was trying to untie him but the knots wouldn’t budge.

“I’m S-seungmin.” He whispered.

“Okay Seungmin, hold still for a moment, okay? I’m gonna try something, you’ll be free in just a second, I promise.”

A small flame flickered to life at the end of his finger. He seared away at the rope, it fell to the ground, ends charred.

Seungmin immediately threw his arms around Hyunjin, burying his face into his chest, “Thank you thank you thank you.” Hyunjin automatically wrapped his own arms around the shaking boy and rocked him back and forth gently.

A door slammed open with a loud  _ bang. _ Several armored guards stormed in followed by a man in a long white coat.

Seungmin stiffened in Hyunjin’s arms, “ _ No _ .”

“What is it?”

He didn’t get a chance to reply. They were torn apart by the guards and forced to the opposite ends of the room.

Hyunjin tried to break free from their grasp but they held fast, “Let me go!”

Seungmin was forced to his knees. The man in the white coat stood in front of him.

“Don’t you dare touch him!” Hyunjin yelled.

The man looked over his shoulder and smiled with a sinister gleam in his eyes. He had the face of a person who enjoyed hurting others.

He spoke lightly, “Just know that whatever happens to him,” he nodded towards Seungmin, “Is your fault.”

_ “What? _ My fault?”

He nodded, still smiling, “Yes,  _ your fault _ . Perhaps if you cooperated during testing, things like this wouldn’t happen to you, to  _ him. _ ”

He turned and before Hyunjin could say anything, the man pulled a syringe full of clear liquid and plunged it into Seungmin’s neck.

“ _ No!” _

The guards let go and Seungmin’s body crumpled to the ground, shivering.

_ “Stop it _ .”

He tried again to break free. Seungmin lay gasping on the ground. His mouth moved but no sound came out.

_ “What are you doing?” _

The guards finally couldn’t hold him any longer. He broke away and ran forward, gathering Seungmin’s shaking body in his arms. He held him closely to his chest. Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth, his tears stained Hyunjin’s shirt.

Hyunjin glared up at the man, soul burning with hate.

_ “What did you do to him?” _

He just smiled.

Seungmin gasped, eyes open wide in fear.

The man kept smiling, “It’s starting.” He whispered gleefully.

Seungmin thrashed in his grip. Hyunjin tried to hold on, “Seungmin? Calm down, okay? It’s just me.”

“ _ No! _ ” He shouted.

He tried to push Hyunjin away but he had no strength left. He gave up and just lay shivering in Hyunjin’s arms.

Hyunjin held him close. He reached down to wipe the tears from his face but froze.

Seungmin’s eyes.

They were pitch black, no whites, no color, just black.

He glared at the man in the white coat, “Whatever you’re doing, stop. Stop it right now.”

The man looked amused, “ _ I’m _ not doing anything.”

“Bastard.” He growled.

He just shrugged, “I’ve been called worse.”

Hyunjin opened his mouth to shoot back but a weak voice made him stop.

“Hyunjin?”

All the previous venom left his body. Seungmin was staring up at him, eyes huge and thankfully back to normal.

“Hey,” he said softly, “You okay?”

“I’m so sorry. It’s my fault.” He murmured, eyes filling with tears again.

Hyunjin shook his head, “You didn’t do anything.”

His eyes began to close, “I’m sorry.” He whispered as his eyes closed, body going limp.

He tried to shake him awake but he wouldn’t respond. He swallowed heavily.

Someone was clapping. It pissed him off.

“Good job, good job.” The man said, grinning from ear to ear, “So, have you learned your lesson?”

“Go to hell.” Hyunjin snarled.

The man shrugged, carelessly, “Guess not. Oh well. We’ll just try again I guess.” He pulled out another syringe.

Hyunjin glared at him and pulled Seungmin closer, he wasn’t letting go this time.

The guards seemed to sense was about to happen. They tensed before running for the door.

The man glanced around in surprise, “W-what? What are you doing?”

Hyunjin’s eyes burned with a deep, raging fire. The temperature in the room soon became unbearable. The man stepped away from him, “Stop immediately.” His voice was coated in fear. The temperature kept rising as Hyunjin let his fury take control.

“If you won’t go to hell,” he spat, “Then I’ll take you there myself.”

And the entire room was engulfed in flames. They left nothing behind.

The fire danced around them, tongues licking out but Hyunjin just held Seungmin a little tighter. He didn’t let a flame touch him.

The screams finally stopped but he didn’t; he wanted to burn the ashes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so I started uploading my oneshot series called "Every Little Piece", would you guys mind checking it out? It's mostly fluff!! :D


	15. Chapter 15

“SUBJECT #003 HAS ESCAPED. I REPEAT, SUBJECT #003 HAS ESCAPED. GUARDS ARE AUTHORIZED TO SHOOT ON SIGHT.”

Minho ignored the loudspeaker, he didn’t care. At this point, if he died, he died. All that mattered to him right now was finding Seungmin.

The identical white corridors seemed to blend together even as he turned left, right, and left again. He knew he was lost but he kept running.

He could still feel Seungmin’s timeless soul, it’s what kept him going. He felt another one nearby. It was a deep otherworldly red with a molten center. It radiated with a dark anger.  _ “Get closer.” _ it whispered,  _ “I dare you, get closer.” _

It was Hyunjin, Minho realized. The boy that threatened to burn a man alive for calling him a Subject. He was no doubt strong but the anger he radiated worried Minho, he hoped Seungmin was safe.

“There he is!”

He ignored the guards and ran faster. Bullets,  _ actual bullets _ , impaled themselves into the walls and floor around him.

He turned a corner and ran straight to the second door on the left, that’s where they were. He forcefully shoved the door open and burst inside the room.

He saw the scorch marks first. They were everywhere, on the floor, walls, even the ceiling. Everything was black.

Except for a small patch.

Hyunjin sat kneeling on a small patch of untouched gray cement. He held Seungmin to his chest and was whispering softly to him. He hadn’t seen Minho.

“Seungmin!” He gasped, rushing towards them.

Hyunjin growled something and wrapped his arms protectively around Seungmin. He turned with a fierce glare and looked almost ready to set the room on fire again. It melted away into a look of shock when he saw Minho but he didn’t loosen his grip on Seungmin.

“Who are you?” He asked quietly. His voice was low, laced with power and an arrogant grace. It was tinted red with a deep fury.

Minho held his hands up defensively as he walked closer, “It’s okay, I’m Minho. You’re Hyunjin right?” He nodded, “Seungmin called for me, said he needed help. They were going to do something to him. I tried to get here as fast as I could.” He was close enough now to kneel down next to him. He could see how, even unconscious, Seungmin curled his body against the other boy, seeking protection and comfort. He could see the deep sadness and regret in Hyunjin’s eyes when he looked at Seungmin.

He shook his head, “I don’t know what they did to him.” He whispered, “They had a syringe and stuck it in his neck. Then he was on the ground.” He looked up at Minho, eyes shining with tears, “He was in so much pain and I couldn’t do anything to help him. It’s my fault, they said they did it to him because I messed up during testing,”

He swallowed, mouth suddenly dry, “It’s not your fault, you stood up for yourself, that’s good.” His voice shook, “But I need you to answer some questions for me, okay? What was in that syringe?”

Hyunjin frowned, “It was a clear liquid. They put it right in his neck.”

The world seemed to stop for Minho. He froze, realizing what they had done to Seungmin.

“ _ No. _ ”

Hyunjin suddenly looked afraid.

Minho stood up and began to pace frantically, “No no no, they can’t, they couldn’t have.” He kept mumbling to himself as he paced.

“Minho,” Hyunjin spoke slowly, “What is that stuff? What did they do to Seungmin? What did they do to you?”

He turned towards him, relief filling his body momentarily, “They’ve never done it to you?”

He shook his head.

Minho almost collapsed in relief, “Good, good. Don’t let that stuff near you, got it?”

“Alright,” he said, hesitant, “But what is that stuff and what does it do?”

“I don’t know what it is and I don’t care. All I know is that you lose it if they give it to you. “

“Lose it?”

“You lose control over your power and go insane. It depends on each person I guess. You would probably set everything and everyone around you on fire.”

“Already did that.” He muttered, looking at the scorch marks on the walls.

Minho shook his head, “It’s bad. And it hurts, you feel like you’re dying. Actually, dying probably hurts less. How did Seungmin react?”

“You mean what did he do?”

He nodded.

“Well, he collapsed,” he murmured, glancing down at the boy still in his arms, “I tried to hold him but he kept trying to push me away. Then he opened his eyes,” he looked up, “And they were pitch black. Nothing else, just black.” He shook his head, “They went back to normal a little after I guess. Then he was okay. He kept apologizing but I don’t know what for.”

Minho looked like he was sick, “Anything else?”

“No. He fell unconscious. I burned the room after and then you came in.”

“Who gave him the stuff? Oversaw everything? A scientist?”

Hyunjin shrugged, “I guess. I burned him too.”

Minho froze for a moment and gaped at him, “You  _ burned  _ him?”

Hyunjin didn’t even bother to look guilty and Minho immediately liked him more. He just nodded, “Yeah. And his ashes, I burned those too.”

He blinked for a moment, unable to respond. He shook his head, trying not to smile, “Good. Anyone tries to put a needle in your neck, burn them.”

He nodded and they didn’t say anything for awhile. Just looked at each other, Seungmin, and the scorch marks on the walls.

Hyunjin finally spoke, “I have some questions too-”

The door burst open and a group of guards rushed in. One threw a small silver ball on the ground. A red circle lit up the center. It seemed to go off, sending a shockwave throughout the room.

Hyunjin felt the everpresent warmth that had always been in his chest disappear. He shivered, he had never been so cold.

Minho blinked in surprise, “What did you do-” He was cut off by a guard slamming their fist into his face.

He reeled backwards, hand pressed to his jaw. He glared at the guard, eyes full of poison.

He didn’t react, “Subjects #003, #005, and #008, you are to report to Lab 9 for testing."


	16. Chapter 16

A guard reached for Seungmin but Hyunjin held him close, “Don’t.” He growled, “I can carry him.” He felt the barrel of a gun press against his back but he just gathered Seungmin into his arms and stood up. 

They walked with guns pressed to their backs to Lab 9. Even when they were powerless, the guards were still afraid. It made Minho smirk, amused.

They were the last ones to arrive. The others were already standing in a line when they got there, all with guns pressed against their backs.

“What happened?” Jisung hissed.

A guard slammed the butt of his gun in between his shoulder blades, “Be quiet!” He snapped. Jisung didn’t even flinch, just shot a glare over his shoulder.

_ ‘In a minute.’ _ Minho mouthed. The other boy nodded and fixed his gaze straight ahead.

Footsteps echoed in front of them. They looked up and saw a man in a white coat walking towards them; another scientist.

He cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses, “Subjects,” the temperature in the room dropped several degrees but he kept going, “You will soon find that you will be punished if you act out of line during testing. But you yourself will not be punished.” He smiled at Hyunjin who was still holding Seungmin, “It will be one of your fellow Subjects receiving the blow. Just ask Subjects #005 and #008.”

The floor shook under their feet. The scientist smiled at Chan, “No acting out of line, Subject #002.” The boy’s face darkened, he looked ready to snap.

He began to walk away. He called over his shoulder: “Remember, there are consequences.”

The guards left with him, the boys were alone again.

Woojin rushed towards Hyunjin and Seungmin, “What’s wrong? Is he hurt? Are you hurt?” Hyunjin let the other boy take Seungmin, he trusted him.

“No I’m fine. I don’t know about Seungmin though.”

“What happened?” Jisung repeated, voice low. Hyunjin motioned towards Minho.

He took a deep breath, “They forced him to lose control.”

“The clear syringe?” Chan realized after a pause.

Minho nodded, jaw clenched, “Yeah. It’s not the first time they’ve done it to him either,”

“Dammit.” He muttered, “I’ll kill them.”

“What clear syringe?” Jeongin asked hesitantly.

One boy pointed at him, “Never, ever let that stuff near you.”

He swallowed, “Alright, I won’t”

Felix had been watching the other boy for some time now. He nudged him, “What’s your name?”

He looked as if someone had punched him in the gut, “I don’t know. I can’t remember it.”

“How can you not remember it?” Jisung asked, puzzled, “It’s your name?”

He sighed, “Do you guys remember anything from before we got here? Other than your names, do you remember anything before living in a lab and being tested on and only being known by a number?”

They opened their mouths to reply but were forced to shut them soon after.

“No.” Felix murmured, “I don’t.”

The boy nodded, eyes full of sadness, “We couldn’t have been born here, there’s no way, I refuse to believe that. Whatever we were before, they took it from us.  _ They took my name _ .”

“And we’re gonna help you get it back.” Seungmin said softly, sitting up.

They all jumped in surprise. Hyunjin rushed towards him and helped him to stand, “How do you feel?”

“Not the greatest.” He admitted.

“Take it easy, alright?”

“I will. I’ll be okay.”

“What does it do to you?” Chan asked.

“The clear stuff?”

Chan nodded.

Seungmin seemed to lose himself in his thoughts, he had a faraway look in his eyes.

“You don’t have to say if you don’t want to.” Chan said hurriedly but Seungmin quickly shook his head.

“No, I was just trying to remember.” He took a deep breath, “I know what it did to me but I don’t remember exactly what I saw.”

“What do you mean?” Woojin asked. Jeongin asked at the same time: “What did you see?” The looked at each other in surprise before smiling almost shyly.

Seungmin glanced at all of them as if trying to gauge them.

“Well,” he said slowly, “Would you believe me if I said I saw the future?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey thanks for reading and sticking with me and this fic, it means a lot to me :)


	17. Chapter 17

“ _ No way _ .” Jeongin breathed.

Seungmin smiled weakly, “Yeah, I did.”

“What did you see?” Asked Chan.

“Well,” he said, smile faltering, “That’s the problem: I don’t remember.”

“Why not?”

“It’s like waking up from a dream.” He said, shrugging helplessly, “I can’t remember what I saw but I know what it felt like.”

“You were so scared.” Hyunjin murmured, “You kept crying out and pushing me away.”

He nodded slowly, “It was bad.” He said softly, “We don’t have an easy road ahead of us.”

“But we already knew that.” Jisung said, determined, “As long as we get out, it doesn’t matter.”

“As long as we get out.” Chan echoed, nodding, “He’s right. We can make it guys, we have to.”

Then, the loudspeaker buzzed.

Minho sighed, “Alright, let’s get this over with.”

“Subjects, today, you will not be fighting guards, you will be fighting each other.”

Felix’s eyes widened, “ _ What?” _

“Remember, you must comply with testing rules or one of your fellow Subjects will be punished.”

“No.” Muttered Woojin, “This is wrong.”

“Testing begins now.”

They stood there, unable to move for a moment.

Finally, Chan whirled to face the group, “I can’t.” He said, shaking his head, “I can’t, I won’t, I refuse to hurt any of you.”

They all nodded in agreement. They couldn’t do this to each other. Ever.

“Then,” Jeongin hesitated, “What do we do?”

Jisung shrugged, “Nothing, I guess.”

“Hold on,” Minho said, holding up a hand, “Let me do something.”

“What are you gonna do?” Seungmin asked cautiously.

Minho didn’t answer him. He faced the nameless boy and locked eyes with him.

“Do you trust me?”

He frowned, “What kind of question is that?”

Minho took a step towards him, “Please,” he said softly, “Just go with it. I won’t do anything unless you say you trust me.”

He hesitated, before nodding, “I trust you.”

Minho smiled, keeping eye contact with him, “Good.”

And with that, he dove into the other boy’s mind.

 

______________________________

 

“What’s going on?” Felix whispered.

“I don’t know.” Jisung whispered back, “Just wait.”

Minho and the other boy hadn’t moved for the last 30 seconds. They just stared at each other. Minho’s face was blank, the only bit of emotion on his face was a slight frown. The other boy only looked mildly surprised, eyes widened and lips slightly parted.

The loudspeaker sounded again, “Subjects, testing has started.”

They ignored it. They had already decided that they weren’t gonna do anything anyway so there was no point in listening anymore.

Suddenly, the spell that had washed over the two boys disappeared and they came back to life.

The boy gasped and fell back. He looked up at Minho in shock, “W-what was that? What did you do?”

They all looked at Minho. He had his head bowed, face obscured. He didn’t answer.

Then, he looked up and they saw that he was smiling. His eyes were shining as if they were filled with stars.

“If I can help it,” he murmured sounding slightly dazed, “I won’t ever do that to you, to any of you. But,” he swallowed, “I had to. This one time, I had to.”

And he walked forward and pulled the other boy to his feet. He grasped his hands, eyes still shining.

“I’m Minho.” He said softly to him, “It’s nice to meet you, Changbin.”


	18. Chapter 18

Changbin felt like he was going to pass out. He stared up at Minho, mouth slightly open in shock.

“How?”

Minho blinked, “Is that it? Is that your name?”

He almost didn’t believe it, “It, I don’t know, feels right. It has to be.” He swallowed heavily, “It has to be.”

Chan pulled him to his feet, “It you wanna be called Changbin, that’s what we’re gonna call you.”

He frowned for a moment before nodding once, “Call me Changbin.”

Jisung grinned at him, “We will.”

“Subjects!” A group of scientists were walking towards them.

They all stiffened, glaring at them.

“We have names.” Felix growled.

They were still walking towards them. One opened his mouth to speak but suddenly, the group stopped, frozen in time.

Seungmin was standing, palm facing the group, expression cool.

“Seungmin.” Minho warned, “You don’t need to be using your powers.”

“Sorry but I needed to know,” he said softly, “I needed to know that I’m in control of myself again. Besides,” he said, glancing at the group, “We need to have a plan. We’re still getting out of here, right?”

“We are.” Chan said, nodding.

“We don’t see each other often though.” Woojin murmured, “How do we plan this?”

_ ‘Like this.’ _

Felix’s eyes went huge, “What was that?”

“Who said that?” Jeongin gasped, looking around frantically.

Chan’s eyes found Minho’s, “It was you, wasn’t it?”

He smiled and nodded, “This is how we plan our escape.”  _ ‘Even when we’re apart, we aren’t, not quite.’ _

Seungmin laughed softly,  _ ‘Just try it. It’ll become natural after a while.’ _

_ 'He’s right.’ _ Changbin smiled.

Jisung pointed at the three of them. “H-how did you-”

_ 'Don’t talk, just think.’ _

_ ‘We’ll hear you, I promise.’ _

Jisung swallowed,  _ ‘How did you do that?’ _

Minho grinned at him, “Like that.”

“No way.” He breathed.

“Sorry but I can’t hold them any longer.” Seungmin said, nodding towards the scientists.

“Okay plan.” Chan said quickly, “Fight back. If they try to take you, fight them. If they try to test you, don’t let them. If they try to stick a needle in your neck-”

“Burn them.” Hyunjin muttered, eyes dark.

“-don’t let them.” He took a breath and looked each of them, “Don’t act like they want us to, we aren’t Subjects anymore. Got it?”

They all nodded.

Seungmin let his arm fall to his side. He swayed for a moment before Hyunjin wrapped an arm around him and held him close.

The group of scientists began towards them again as if nothing had happened.

“Subjects,” one called, “You were warned about what would happen if you didn’t comply.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a syringe full of clear liquid.

They tensed, ready to fight back. They weren’t Subjects anymore, they wouldn’t be what they wanted them to be, not anymore.

But then, he collapsed to the ground. The syringe shattered into little pieces next to him. The remaining scientists gathered around him, concerned.

“Who did that?” Minho asked, confused.

Jeongin raised his hand tentatively, “Me.”

“What did you do?” Seungmin asked.

He shrugged slightly, “Blood is a liquid so I just, I don’t know, stopped it.”

Chan gaped as if seeing him for the first time, “You mean you  _ stopped _ his blood flow?”

“Yeah I guess so.”

Felix was gaping too, “The last time I saw you, you could barely lift water and now you can stop blood?”

“Y-yeah.” Jeongin almost looked embarrassed.

One of the scientist was rushing towards them. She grabbed Woojin’s arm and jerked him towards the still unresponsive man, “Subject #001, you’re needed.” She practically threw him to the ground next to him, “What are you waiting for? Help him!”

Woojin stared at them for a moment before glancing down at the man on the ground. Slowly, he reached down and placed his hand on his shoulder.

“Woojin no.” Minho whispered, “Don’t do it.”

He glanced up as if he heard him and smiled at them, a soft secretive smile, before focusing on the scientist again.

After a moment, he stood up and returned to the group. They looked at him, eyes wide.

“Are you okay?” Changbin asked, voice low.

“I’m fine.” He smiled, “But watch.”

One of the scientists reeled back in shock, “He’s dead!”

Another whirled to face Woojin, “You were supposed to help him!” He cried, “What did you do?”

Woojin just shrugged, “I did what you asked, I helped him. He was already dying and in pain, the best thing to do for him was to put him out of his misery.”

The scientist was too furious to speak for a moment, “Guards! Take them back to their rooms immediately. But this will be settled later.” He said, pointing at Woojin angrily.

Jisung had been watching Jeongin and Woojin for a moment now. He laughed quietly, “You two aren’t as harmless as you want us to think.”

They just shrugged but couldn’t help but smile a little.

“Hey.” Chan called softly to Woojin. The guards were getting closer.

“Yes?”

“Could you have saved him?”

He thought for a moment before smiling again.

“Easily.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are appreciated <3


	19. Chapter 19

Jeongin heard the lock click and his door began to open.

He reached out, feeling for the rush of blood in the guard’s veins and willed it to slow and eventually stop.

The guard collapsed outside and Jeongin sent him a silent apology.

He closed his door and sat against it.

He hoped they would stop trying to get in soon because no matter what, they wouldn’t succeed, he wouldn’t let them.

_ ‘Hey Jeongin?’ _ Minho’s voice was soft in his head.

_ ‘Yes?’ _

_ ‘Changbin will be there in a second okay?’ _

_ ‘Okay, I’m ready.’ _

They had been by themselves for a few days now. Well, not really by themselves, they had company, they had each other.

A soft knock made him stand up and back away from the door.

It began to open slowly. Jeongin tensed, ready to attack, but Changbin carefully poked his head inside.

“Ready to go?”

Jeongin relaxed slightly and nodded. Changbin motioned for him to follow.

They carefully stepped over the pile of unconscious bodies in front of Jeongin’s door and into the white hallway.

_ ‘Go to your right.’ _ Minho said, guiding them.

He followed Changbin, their footsteps soundless.

_ ‘Turn to your left. Careful, there’s a guard on that hall.’ _

Changbin paused at the corner and held up a hand signalling Jeongin to stop as well.

He placed his other hand on the wall and Jeongin watched as tendrils of ice traced along the wall and around the corner. After a moment, he motioned for them to keep going.

_ ‘Okay, keep going straight for now.’ _

They walked past the guard. He looked almost normal but Jeongin saw the thin layer of frost covering his black uniform. He stood there, body frozen, unable to move.

“He’ll thaw out later on.” Changbin said, following Jeongin’s gaze, “But it won’t matter by then anyway.”

They kept walking.

_ ‘Turn right. Go into the first door on your left.’ _

Changbin took one last glance around before easing the door halfway open.

A warm hand shot out and grabbed them both by the arm.

It was Hyunjin, pulling them into the room. He and Felix greeted them with small grateful smiles.

The door shut behind them and Felix ushered them farther into the room where the others were waiting.

Minho breathed out a sigh of relief, “That’s all of us.”

Chan glanced at Seungmin, “Ready?”

The other boy nodded and closed his eyes.

The world around them began to slow as time was forced to stop. For now, their world was this single room and the nine of them.

“How long can you hold it?” Woojin asked.

Seungmin opened his eyes and shrugged, “I don’t know. I’ll let you know when I can’t.”

“Alright, we’re here.” Jisung said, “Now what?”

“Now,” Chan said, “We get to work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO WHO WANTS TO SCREAM ABOUT SKIZ'S UPCOMING COMEBACK ON AUGUST 6TH BECAUSE YA GIRL'S NOT READY


	20. Chapter 20

“What are we gonna do then?” Asked Hyunjin, voice low. 

Jisung and Changbin spoke at once:

“We get outta here.”

“We find out what they want us for.”

They looked at each other in surprise.

“ _ What? _ ” Jisung’s asked incredulously, “Does it matter what they want us for? If they haven’t told us already, they aren’t gonna tell us now. We need to leave and get away from them.”

Changbin shook his head, “Don’t you get it? They’re hiding something from us. We  _ don’t _ have our memories from before this place, we’ve been put through test after test, and for what? I wanna get out of here just as much as you do but I’m sick of not knowing.”

“Insane.” He muttered, “You’re insane.”

“Look-”

“No! We have the chance the get out  _ right now _ . They don’t stand a chance against us, not when we’re together like this. We can’t waste this, we need to go  _ now. _ ”

No one said anything for a long minute.

Chan broke the silence, voice careful, “If we’re a team, we need to make this decision together.” The others nodded slowly.

“I’m with Changbin.” Minho’s eyes flickered to Jisung momentarily, “I want my memories back.”

“I want out of here.” Hyunjin said, shaking his head. Seungmin nodded in agreement.

“Me too.” Jeongin said quietly, “I don’t want to be tested on anymore.”

“I’ve been wondering too though,” Woojin said, “What do they want us for? What’s the point of all these tests?”

Felix nodded, “I want to know too.”

They all looked at Felix.

He sighed, eyes downcast, “I want to know why we’re here. But,” he looked up, “I want to get out of here more than anything.”

“That’s five to four then.” Jisung murmured. He had gotten what he wanted but he looked as if he were the one that had lost.

“I won’t argue.” Changbin said, voice quiet. His eyes were on the ground.

Jisung reached out and put his hand on the other’s shoulder, “But hey, there’s nothing that says we can’t come back and find out.”

Changbin slowly looked up to meet his eyes. A small smile formed on his face, “Yeah. Let’s get out of here.”

He nodded happily, “But we’ll be back.”

“Are we waiting for anything?” Jeongin asked.

Felix grinned, “No, let’s go.”

“Any idea where the exit is?” Hyunjin had a point.

Minho shook his head, “No, but I can get us there. As long as we keep moving, I’ll keep looking.”

“What about the guards?” Jeongin asked.

“We fight our way out.” Jisung replied, “They’ve never stood a chance against any of us anyway.”

“I’m letting go then.” Seungmin warned, “I wanna help fight and I can’t if I keep holding on.”

“Good.” Felix smiled, “You and me work well together.”

Seungmin mirrored his smile, “Yeah, we do.”

They felt the world shift back into motion as Seungmin let go. Time was set back into motion.

“It won’t be long until they find us.” Changbin warned.

“Then let’s go.” Jisung said, “Let’s get out of here.”

Chan nodded, “Alright,” he said “Follow me.”


	21. Chapter 21

Minho walked side by side with Chan. He reached out with his mind, searching for a way out.

“Anything?” The other boy asked quietly.

“Not yet.” He murmured, “We need to keep going.”

Suddenly, sirens began blaring as red lights flashed.

“SUBJECTS HAVE ESCAPED, I REPEAT, SUBJECTS HAVE ESCAPED. GUARDS ARE AUTHORIZED TO SHOOT ON SIGHT.”

“It’s about time they found us.” Changbin muttered. The air around them began to cool.

Cracks began to form on the ground. Chan glanced at them, “Ready?” They nodded. “Good. Don’t make it easy on them, alright?”

“We won’t.” Hyunjin’s eyes were steely. A wave of heat washed over them, fighting against the cold.

Guards appeared from far off, coming around the corner. They shouted when they saw the boys.

A breeze picked up from out of nowhere, mixing the hot and cold air. “Give ‘em hell.” Jisung grinned.

The guards aimed to shoot and hail of bullets flew towards them but stopped mid-flight before falling to the ground. Felix strolled forward casually and picked one up. He flipped it around in his fingers, examining it for a moment before tossing it into the air. A force shot it back from where it came. They heard a cry and one of the guards fell to the ground, a pool of blood already forming around his lifeless body.

One guard yelled and threw a small silver ball at them. A red light blinked in the center.

“Not again.” Seungmin muttered. His hand shot out and the ball stopped, frozen in time.

The cracks on the ground grew and a column of earth shot up underneath it. Seungmin let go of the ball and the column slammed into it, smashing it into pieces on the ceiling.

“Come on.” Chan said, stepping around his column, “We’re not done yet.”

Changbin knelt and placed a hand on the ground. Thin tendrils of ice spread out in front of him, racing towards the last few guards. The moved as if to run but were too slow. The ice found their mark and the guards were frozen, still as statues.

As they boys walked past, cracks began to form across the ice statues and they shattered into little pieces that fell to the ground like snow.

Jeongin paused for a moment and reached down to place his hand in a pile of the broken ice. He glanced up, “Hey, Heyunjin, could you melt this for me?”

The other boy frowned for a moment but nodded and dug his foot into the ice. After a while, puddles of water were forming on the ground where the ice had been.

They watched Jeongin as he carefully reached out and gathered the water into a mass. His fingers moved gracefully and the water rippled and bent to his will. Once he gathered all the water he could, he let it disspate into the air.

“Water vapor.” Was all he said in explanation, “I’ll use it later.”

“Okay.” Woojin said, nodding slowly, “Is anyone hurt?” They shook their heads; they were fine. “Good, good.”

Minho took a tentative step forward, “More guards are coming.”

“We can handle it.” Jisung said.

Chan nodded, “Let’s keep going.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm assuming most of you guys know that this fic is my current work in progress and I started posting my stuff on Tumblr and I've only recently been posting it on AO3. 
> 
> Well here's the thing: This fic is completely caught up on here, this is the most recent chapter I've written. So unfortunately this means that updates will be less frequent because I'm juggling two fics, an active Tumblr blog, my personal life (lol what life), and a screwed up sleep schedule.
> 
> Sorry about this guys! I promise to still try to update as often as I can!
> 
> In other news, Kim Wonpil is ruining my life :'D


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh it's been awhile hi hello how is everyone? :o
> 
> Upcoming chapters might be shorter but hopefully I can update faster this way! I promise to make sure my writing is good quality though!
> 
> Anddddd
> 
> HELLO MY FELLOW STAYS :'D
> 
> What do you guys think of our fandom name?? Personally, I love it T-T. You guys ready for the 6th? I'm not, oh dear god, I am not ready for this fjsbdbs

They had been running for what felt like hours. Group after group of guards had tried to stop them but were knocked aside like flies. It felt as if a bond had formed between them, one that strengthened their powers and heightened their senses. They were stronger when they were together, almost unstoppable.

“This place is like a maze.” Minho muttered, pressing his back to the wall, “It might take awhile to find the way out.”

“We can’t stop.” Jisung said, still tensed, ready to keep pushing on, “We have to keep going.”

Minho stretched, arms reaching up towards the ceiling, “I never said anything about stopping.” He walked on, mouth set in a hard line. The others followed behind him.

Something tugged at his subconscious. He stopped without warning, his mind so focused that he barely felt Felix run into his back. The other boy fell to the ground unharmed but confused. The others stopped too, some had kept running and had to come back to where Minho still was once they realized.

Changbin pulled Felix back to his feet, “Why’d we stop?” Minho shook his head slightly, brow furrowed, his eyes were staring straight ahead but looked as if he were seeing something beyond the white hallway in front of them. He began to move forward slowly, as if in a trance. They all glanced at one another, unsure.

Chan matched his steps with Minho, “Hey, what’s going on up there?” The others had filed into a silent line behind them. “Up where?” Minho’s voice came out as a breath, soft and barely audible. “Your mind.” He was watching him from the corner of his eye, “You’re seeing something we can’t, what is it?” He didn’t reply immediately, just kept walking slowly. Chan didn’t press him for answers. His main focus was on the path ahead of him and the boys behind him. As long as they were safe, he could wait.

“I’m not seeing,” he finally said, voice still soft, “I’m  _ feeling _ .” Chan didn’t miss a beat, “Well, what are you feeling then?” Another long pause. Minho turned a corner and took them to the left. “I feel,” he took a slow breath in and out through his nose, “Right.” Chan nodded slowly but frowned, “We turned left though.” He didn’t try to turn them back though, he had an infinite amount of patience and above all, he trusted the other boy to take them the right way.

“Not that type of right.”

“Then what type of right?”

“I’m not sure. If just feels right.”

Chan didn’t respond for a long time. Finally, he said: “I don’t think I know what you’re saying and I know for sure I don’t know what you’re feeling. Whatever it is though, I trust you, the boys trust you too. Keep following whatever you’re feeling, we’ll be right here with you for as long as it takes.”

Minho’s face seemed to brighten slightly, “I’ll get us out of here, I promise.”

They kept walking through the strangely empty halls. No guards tried to stop them, no sirens wailed warnings. It was eerily silent, even their own footsteps barely made any noise.

Minho stilled again, head tilting upwards. The others waited, watching him silently. He closed his eyes, fingers fluttering lightly at his sides. Suddenly, his eyes opened wide, “ _ I found it. _ ” He breathed, lips parting slightly.

“What do you find?” Chan asked.

When he turned to face Chan, his eyes were a clear, deep brown. His expression was no longer dream-like, it was cool and determined. When he spoke, his voice was strong:

“I found where we need to go; I found the way out.”


	23. Chapter 23

“Then go!” Hyunjin cried, eyes frantically wide, “Let’s go, let’s get out!”

Minho stood there, still too shocked to move. Jisung reached out and gripped his hand tightly within his own, “Come on.” He murmured quietly, “We’re right behind you okay? Let’s get out of here.” He swallowed hard but nodded at him, “Let's go.” And he turned and ran. They didn’t hesitate to follow him.

He ran with confidence, never hesitating at corners or pausing. A sense of uncontainable joy leaked into the air. They had prayed for as long as they could remember for this moment even though it was a little different than they had imagined. They thought they would be escaping alone, never in a million years did they think they would have someone by their side to fight for them, to fight  _ with _ them. They were bound by an unbreakable bond that ran deeper than blood. They were brothers, they were family.

“Almost there!” Minho yelled. They ran faster. A light wind picked up behind them and pushed as if to move them forward. He swerved around the last corner, feet almost sliding out from under him. This was it.

He glanced behind him to glance at the others as he turned. Their faces were shining with an unseeable light. Hope was beginning to shine in their eyes, like the sun coming out from behind a cloud.

But then the hope started to die as the storm resumed.

He saw the light in their eyes disappear in an instant. Their expressions turned to one of fear and horror. He didn’t know why though, did he do something wrong? He paused his running to turn around to see but never got the chance.

A single gunshot sounded and he was falling, falling, falling.

 

_____________________________

 

_ “No!” _

The cry was torn from Woojin’s mouth as he lunged forward to catch Minho’s body. Deep red blood was beginning to spread rapidly on the other boy’s white uniform. He tried to pull him closer, to fix what had been broken, but then pain tore through his entire body and he was falling too.

Suddenly, everything froze.

Minho was on his back, eyes staring up at the ceiling. His mouth was slightly open as if he were trying to say something. The blood had stopped spreading.

Woojin was frozen with his arms out and trying to reach Minho. His fingertips were just barely touching the other boy. A small dot of red was on his clothes, the blood hadn’t had a chance to stain his clothes completely yet.

Seungmin collapsed to his knees, eyes wide, tears streaming down his face, “I’m so, I’m so sorry.” He gasped, hands pressed to his chest, desperately trying to calm his racing heart, “I just reacted, I just, I just had to do  _ something _ .”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Chan whispered, breathless. His hand reached out, blindly looking for the other boy but he wasn’t looking at Seungmin.

He was looking at the hoard of guards in front of the, guns out, aimed straight at them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you aren't out for my blood rn, let's chat some? Djwbxnx
> 
> What's your favorite song(s) from the new album?? Mine is Voices but I have My Pace and Insomnia stuck in my head rn!!
> 
> Also!! Don't forget to vote for the boys on the Idol Champ app and on MCountdown this weekend when prevoting starts!! As of right now, we're no.1 on Idol Champ but every vote counts!!
> 
> (Btw I started a drabble series on Tumblr, would you guys wanna read it? All (2) the drabbles are like, less than 200 words but they're cute heh)


	24. Chapter 24

Changbin whipped around with a snarl to face the still frozen guards, murder burning in his eyes. In a flash, spikes of ice were racing on the ground towards them. It covered their bodies, freezing them solid before they shattered to pieces.

Seungmin gasped in surprise, eyes going wide. He tried to stand but stumbled and collapsed again. Chan snapped back to life and was by his side in an instant, “What happened?” He asked, voice low with concern. Seungmin shook his head, “I, I don’t know.” He sounded like he could barely breathe, “I lost focus when the ice went through and—  _ Woojin! _ ”

Woojin had begun to move again. He ignored Seungmin and gathered Minho’s body in his arms, hand pressed over his wound. He shut his eyes tightly and soon the blood on Minho’s shirt slowly stopped spreading. He gently laid him down again before he collapsed on his side, the red stain on his own shirt was beginning to spread rapidly. A small bloodstained bullet fell from his grasp.

“ _ Look out!” _ Felix yelled. Some guards remained in front of them and more pouring in on either side of them; they were being surrounded.

A funnel of wind picked up and circled around the guards’ feet. It picked up in speed and ferocity and shot them into the air, their bodies smashing into the ceiling before falling to the ground again.

“Come on!” Jisung cried, desperately motioning towards them. Changbin and Felix each grabbed one of Minho’s arms and slung it around their shoulders. They pulled him with them, his feet dragging the ground behind them, head lolling from side to side. Chan lifted Woojin onto his back, grimacing. Hyunjin gathered Seungmin into his arms before nodding at Jisung. He grabbed Jeongin’s hand and they were running again. More guards were blocking what was supposed to be their exit so they sprinted back the way the had come.

They weren’t moving as fast as they were before, they just couldn’t. A group had begun to follow them and was slowly catching up.

Jeongin wrested his hand free from Jisung’s and stopped to turn and face the guards. They ran a little ways past him before slowing and looking back in shock.

“What are you doing?” Changbin shouted, adjusting his grip on Minho.

Jeongin didn’t answer. Instead, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath in. As he exhaled, the air around him began to shift before it condensed into water. It expanded and grew in size, surrounding Jeongin in an arc. He shot his hand forward as if he were pushing something away and the water followed, racing forward in a wave and crashed into the guards, the sheer force knocking them off their feet. Some tried to stand up but slipped on the puddles of water that was left around them.

Jeongin turned and sprinted back to the where the others were waiting. He took Jisung’s hand again and the other boy squeezed it before they were running again.

“In there!” Chan yelled, pointing with his head towards a gray steel door. Jisung didn’t even hesitate to rip it open and herd the others inside before following in after.

Hyunjin held a bright flame in his hand to light up the darkness. He had set Seungmin down. He sat leaning against Hyunjin’s legs, blinking slowly.

“Do you think they saw us?” He asked, voice heavy with exhaustion. A few of them shook their heads.

“They aren’t getting in.” Felix muttered, helping Chanbin ease Minho down, “I won’t let them.”

Chan gently laid Woojin on his back. His face was deathly pale in the firelight. The bloodstain had grown and it stained the back of Chan’s shirt from where he had carried him.

“What do we do?” Jeongin asked. He watched them all with a mix of sadness and worry.

“I don’t know.” Chan murmured, a feeling of dread filling his chest. This wasn’t supposed to happen. They were supposed to be free right now, together.

“I’m so sorry.” A tired voice said.

Minho struggled to sit up. Changbin rushed to help him, letting the other boy lean on him. “I’m so sorry.” He said again, “I led us into a trap. I don’t know what happened, I saw a way out. It was a huge door. It was supposed to take us out of here.”

“You couldn’t have known they were there though, it’s not your fault.” Hyunjin said, kneeling down so he could wrap his arms around Seungmin.

He just shook his head, “That was where we had to go. I just know it.”

“It does explain why there were so many guards there though.” Jisung pointed out, “They don’t want us getting out.”

“Yeah,” Hyunjin nodded, “It does- hey, what are you doing?”

Seungmin had slid out of Hyunjin’s grip and forced himself to stand. He stumbled forward but made it to Woojin’s side before collapsing to his knees.

He placed a hand on the gunshot wound, right on his left shoulder, and shook his head, “I have no idea if this will work.”

At first, nothing happened. But then, the red stain started receding, leaving Woojin’s shirt just as white as it had been. Chan reached back and the stain on his shirt was gone too. They watched in awe as Seungmin removed his hand. No blood, nothing was left, not even a hole from the gunshot. He opened his palm to show them the bullet.

Woojin opened his eyes slowly, looking up at them, taking it all in. He felt his shirt for blood but found none, no wound, nothing. He sat up slowly, gripping Seungmin’s arm. “What did you do?” He breathed.

“No idea. Turned back time on the wound I guess.” He shook his head, “It doesn’t really make sense, it  _ shouldn’t _ make sense. I’ve never done is before but it worked.” He sat back and rubbed at his eyes.

Woojin’s eyes filled with warmth, “Whatever you did, you saved me. Thank you.” He nodded with a soft smile.

Chan eyed him with concern, “Hey,” he said kneeling down by his side, placing a hand on his shoulder, “You’ve been doing really good. Take it easy for a bit, okay?” Seungmin nodded with a tired smile and Chan pulled him into a brief hug before standing up again.

He wandered over to Minho and sat down. The other boy didn’t speak. Finally, “Chan.” He hummed in response. “Chan.” Finally, he looked him in the eyes.

He looked awful, like he had been crying, “It’s my fault.”

Chan shook his head, “No, don’t say that-”

“But it is!” He cried, voice breaking, “ _ I _ led us there. If I hadn’t, then Woojin wouldn’t have gotten shot.” He sighed, defeated, “Maybe that wasn’t even the exit.” He looked up at Chan, eyes tortured, “I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

He didn’t say anything for awhile. Then, “I don’t know either.” Minho’s head lowered, “But,” Chan went on, “This doesn’t change anything. We just have to keep going. Maybe that  _ was _ the way out and we just have to go back. Maybe it wasn’t right and we have to find another way. Either way, we just gotta try again. We can’t stop. But,” He took a deep breath, “We’re family now, okay? We’re brothers. Family trusts each other but you gotta trust yourself too. If you say you think you found the right way, we’ll be right behind you.”

Tears traced down Minho’s cheeks. He hastily wiped them away, sniffling slightly. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse with emotion, “I’ll get us out of here, I’ll find the right way. No more mistakes, we’re getting out of here.”

Chan nodded, reaching over and wiping away a missed tear, “And even if you make mistakes, it’s okay. We’ll be right there with you to help figure it out. You’re not alone anymore.”

Minho smiled through his tears, “Thank you.” Another sniffle, “Thank you.” Chan smiled and squeezed his hand.

“What now?” Felix asked. They all glanced at one another before their eyes settled on Chan, waiting to see what he would say,

He pursed his lips, “We need a little time, we need to rest. We’ll go soon but not now.” They all nodded and began to settle down again.

Suddenly, someone began to bang on the door from the outside. It opened briefly and a small silver ball was thrown in, a red light beeping at it’s center. Before anyone could react, it went off.

They gasped, gripped at their chests. All they could feel was a terrible, gaping emptiness. That hole was soon filled with fear and dread as the banging continued. A rough voice began to shout from the other side.

“Come out now with your hands in the air! If not, we come in and you all die.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :^)
> 
> Hey lets talk! Tell me about your skz bias!! Mine is Changbin! I didn't have a bias in skz until around the tenth episode of the show but I started noticing him more and fell in love heh. He became my ultimate bias soon after


	25. Chapter 25

No one moved, they were frozen, staring at that door, waiting for it to burst open. They could feel it, the fear, the dread, it was overwhelming, suffocating even.

_ ‘It’s okay.’ _ They each heard Chan’s soft voice in their minds,  _ ‘I won’t let anything happen to you guys. I promise.’ _

_ ‘Don’t say that,’ _ They felt a surge of gratitude from Changbin but they boy’s eyes darted around nervously,  _ ‘Don’t make promises you can’t keep.You’ll only blame yourself later if something goes wrong.’ _

‘ _ Maybe you’re right.’  _ He met Changbin’s eyes with cool determination,  _ ‘But I’ll still do whatever it takes to protect all of you.’ _

_ ‘So will we.’  _ Minho was staring at the door like he was trying to burn a hole through it,  _ ‘You said we’re family. Family protects one another.’ _

_ ‘To the very end.’  _ Woojin nodded,  _ ‘Whatever end that may be.’ _

_ ‘Then what’s our ending?’  _ Seungmin asked, swaying slightly back and forth,  _ ‘Open the door or make them do it themselves?’ _

_ ‘What happens if we open the door?’ _ He took a step forward towards the door but then stepped back again.

_ 'They take us.’ _ Felix’s low voice was grim,  _ ‘We’re theirs again. Experiments. Subjects.’ _

_ ‘Things will get worse.’  _ Chan spoke in a murmur,  _ ‘They know we’re too strong together. We might not see each other again.’ _

The thought of them being alone again hit harder than any bullet. They stared at each other with mournful eyes. No one likes goodbyes.

_ ‘And if we make them come in?’  _ Jeongin’s voice was hesitant. They already knew the answer.

Jisung swallowed slowly,  _ ‘We die.’ _

_ ‘What’s it gonna be then?’ _ Hyunjin eyed the door warily.

No one spoke. Finally Jeongin asked out loud, “Do you think there’s a life after this one?” They all blinked in surprise, the question had been completely unexpected.

“I’m not sure.” Woojin spoke slowly, “I’ve never really thought about it.”

Chan was watching Jeongin almost curiously, “Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know.” He replied, shrugging, “I was just thinking though because, I mean, if there  _ is _ an afterlife then death might not be so bad. As long as I could spend it with you guys, that is.”

Felix laughed softly, ruffling Jeongin’s hair, “Yeah. I don’t care where we go honestly. As long as I’m with you guys, in death or trapped here, I’m okay.”

“Me too.” Jisung said, nodding firmly.

Minho glanced at him, surprised, “I thought you wanted to get out more than anything?”

He smiled sadly, “Yeah, I wanna get out,” his voice was soft, eyes shining, “But I wanna be with you guys more.”

“Let’s stay.” Chan’s voice was barely audible. They looked at him in surprise, “Let’s stay.” He said again, more firmly, “There’s nothing that’s stopping us from trying again. And even if they separate us,” he smiled,  _ ‘We still have this.’  _ Slowly, they all nodded.

_ 'We’ll stay. Together.’ _

Woojin nudged Chan towards the door, “Open it,” He said, “Before they get impatient.” He nodded, stepping up.

He glanced at him over his shoulder, and smiled. Woojin’s mouth opened slightly in surprise before it melted into a soft smile. He had never noticed that Chan had dimples.

Chan’s voice was clear,  _ ‘You ready?’ _

Eight voices answered, strong.

_ ‘Ready.’ _

Chan opened the door and light flooded the room.

_ ‘Let’s go.’ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D
> 
> Alsoooo~ the first chap my next story is done!!! I'm so excited for it you guys have no idea hehe. I'll start posting it after Control is done though! <3


	26. Chapter 26

Chan was on the ground before he managed his second step out the door. The white walls blinded him and his vision swam with bits of broken light. He could hear someone yelling but they sounded far away. He reached up and touched his face, movements sluggish. When he drew his hand back, his fingers were stained with red.

Two pairs of arms jerked him forcefully to his feet and the sudden movement nearly made him blackout. He blinked hard once, twice, and forced himself to see again. Figures covered in black kept moving until they lost their shape. He saw blurred white shapes decorated with bits of red. The black shapes surrounded the white figures and Chan wondered briefly if he really had passed out. Then, one of the black shapes rushed up to him and slammed something against his temple and he fell to the ground again, painting the white floor beneath him with little dots of red. There was a distant ringing in his ears but the world came back into focus.

The black were guards, beating down on him without mercy. They still moved too fast, too jerky, he couldn’t keep up.

The white were his brothers, all of them being overwhelmed and beaten. Minho. Jeongin. Jisung. Changbin. Woojin. Seungmin. Felix. Hyunjin. He wanted to call out for them but their names stayed stuck in his throat.

The red was blood.  _ Their _ blood. Red on white floors as if it were some sick painting.

He knew they were still beating down on him but he couldn’t feel it anymore, couldn’t feel anything. Maybe if he closed his eyes, everything would just disappear, go away. He wanted to, he wanted everything to stop. His eyes felt heavy and darkness tugged at the edge of his vision. It beckoned him closer, telling him to leave it behind, that he was done with the world. It would be so easy, so peaceful. He closed his eyes, it was time to go.

Someone was yelling. Too far away. He couldn’t open his eyes, didn’t want to open them.

It grew louder. He could almost tell who it was.

They were screaming now. In pain?

_ No. _

_ “CHAN.” _

His name.

But he had left the world. It let him drift farther and farther away. And he was okay with it. Because that was a long time ago, the world hadn’t had a grip on him for years. He had lived apart from it for as long as he could remember and instead, he had built his own world from the bottom up.

His world didn’t revolve around himself or anything else, it revolved around eight boys. He wouldn’t come back for anything else  _ but _ them. They shouted his name and called him back. Back to the world, back to  _ his _ world.

His eyes opened.

And he felt it. A piece in him shifted back into place, making him whole again. It almost made him smile.

He pressed his hand against the ground and watched as fissures grew from underneath his hand and spread out. The floor broke and crack as the earth trembled. It started out small, little tremors and shivers, but grew to a full on earthquake.

Then, the entire floor shattered.

The earth swelled up and broke apart the ground beneath them. It rose and grabbed on to any and every guard before dragging them down. Once it had a grip on every guard that would dare hurt anyone Chan loved, it shifted again but this time it was to cover them. Their shouts were muffled and cut off as they were dragged under the earth and buried underneath. The ground resealed itself again but now, it was a graveyard.

He lay there for ten seconds, only ten, and let himself hear the sound of his own breathing, before he forced himself to his feet. The others were doing the same. It was just them again. As it should be.

He offered them all a weak smile, “I’m sorry.” His voice was raspy and barely there. He coughed a few times into his hand before trying again, voice stronger now, “I’m sorry.”

“I’m tired of us saying that we’re sorry all the time,” Jeongin murmured, wiping a bit of blood off his face, “What are we even sorry for?”

He laughed quietly to himself and allowed his eyes to shut for a moment, “Sorry for letting you guys get hurt when I said I’d protect you.”

Changbin opened his mouth to say something but Chan held up a hand, “I’ll stop apologizing after this but I’m still sorry.” Another small laugh. The others looked at him, a bit confused. There was nothing left to be sorry for. Was there?

He didn’t say anything, just bent his head down and kicked at a bit of the dirt left on the ground, still smiling a little. He felt it, the others felt it. Pieces of a puzzle, fitting back together, becoming whole. Except it was almost different. He finally looked up, still smiling softly.

“I’m sorry but I’m not ready to give up. Not again, not after this, it’s now or never.”

The others looked confused still but Minho slowly nodded, “You mean we try again. Right now.”

He nodded, once, “Are you with me?”

A new light entered their eyes and when they looked at each other, it was almost like looking at a sky full of stars. They nodded and Chan’s smile grew.

“Good, we’re gonna make things right. Then we’re gonna get out of here, for real this time.”

Then he told them his plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How's life guys? Favorite 3RACHA song? I have a whole list haha. If, I See, Runner's High, P.A.C.E., For You, Placebo, I could go on all of 3RACHA's songs are god tier.


	27. Chapter 27

Jisung ran and glanced over his shoulder. An impossibly huge group of guards were chasing after him. He sent another gust of wind shooting behind him, not enough to stop them but enough to slow them down and give him a little space to breathe.

A different group of guards turned the corner ahead and were running straight towards him. It only made him run faster, arms pumping in rhythm at his sides.

Winds circled at his feet and he jumped, letting his momentum and the wind launch him over the group in front of him. He stumbled a little when he hit the ground but quickly regained his footing before he was running again. The mass of guards chasing him had nearly doubled.

“Come on, come on.” He muttered under his breath, eyes darting around in hopes of finding an ally in this mess.

Then, a wave of heat washed over him making him smile. He ran faster.

Hyunjin swerved around the corner ahead of him, face lighting up when he saw Jisung. A few blacked clothed guards were behind him but they all had some part of them on fire and were desperately trying to put it out.

Jisung skidded to a halt. The group after him were getting closer at an alarming rate but he forced himself to stay where he was. Winds began to gather around his feet.

Hyunjin sprinted past him and Jisung let a curtain of wind slide underneath him and sent him sailing over the guards. He flipped mid-flight and let bits and pieces of fire rain down on the unfortunate guards below him. Not enough to kill, just enough to start a blaze.

Jisung launched himself over the guards once he was sure he had set Hyunjin safely down. The other boy had waited for him and together, they kept running. Some guards chased after them but most were too busy trying to put the many fires out before it spread. No use though, Jisung had stirred up the air around them. It fueled the fire, making the tongues of flames burn higher.

Chan had been clear in his instructions.  _ Cause as much chaos as you can. You don’t have to kill, just make sure you keep as many people as possible distracted. _

And that’s exactly what he, Hyunjin, Seungmin, Changbin, and Jeongin were doing. And they were doing it well.

They had split up to start with but by now, Jisung had run into all of them at least once. This was actually his fourth run in with Hyunjin.

They dodged a few guards that were simply standing still. They looked like they had been running but something had forced them to just stop mid-step. The two shared a smile, Seungmin had been here not too long ago.

They didn’t stay together long. Hyunjin swerved off to a corridor on the right while Jisung kept going straight. It was better this way, it meant that there were more of them to keep up with. He wasn’t worried about them being apart, he knew he would see them all again soon enough.

He passed a different corridor and saw Jeongin and Changbin together. He paused and debated on whether or not they needed help with the group they were dealing with but what he saw made him burst out laughing.

Jeongin had pulled water from the air around them and let it fall to the floor and Changbin had frozen it into a sheet of ice. The guards behind them kept slipping and sliding over it before crashing into the wall or one another and eventually to the ground.

The two passed Jisung with huge matching grins. Changbin headed left and Jeongin went to the right. He waved at them and waited. Soon enough, the guards picked themselves off the floor and moved towards where Jisung was still standing but with visible caution.

He started jogging away once a few of them actually managed to stay on their feet. The others would follow soon enough. Probably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two updates two days in a row?? Unheard of!!


	28. Chapter 28

Felix eased another door open and peered inside. Empty. Just as the one before had been. And the one before that. And the one before that, “What it they all left?”

Woojin wandered past him, “I don’t think so. At least, not yet.”

“Someone has to be in charge.” Chan said, stepping out of the room down the hall and shutting the door behind him. Another dead end.

“Hey!” Minho called from farther down, “This one’s locked.” They glanced at one another and shrugged, “Could be something, could be nothing. It’s worth checking out.” They followed Chan to where the other boy was.

“So how do we-” Woojin’s voice was cut off by a horrible noise. The door in front of them was bending and folding almost in half. The awful noise was coming from the sound of metal being crushed together.

Felix had his hands pressed flat together, palm to palm. He nudged a metal ball, the remainder of the door, out of the way with his foot before looking up at them with a smile, “It’s just easier to make your own way, you know?”

“Whatever works.” Minho muttered, shrugging. Chan shot Felix a grin before stepping inside.

The room was cramped. Long metal tables covered in mysterious substances took up most of the space. Shelves and cabinets lined the walls. A few computers were set up on the farthest wall. Hunched over their screens was a single man in a long white coat. A scientist.

He was so absorbed in his work that he didn’t hear the boys approach him and somehow hadn’t heard the door being ripped open.

Chan moved to stand directly behind him before grabbing him and jerking him out of his seat, hand clamped over his mouthz muffling his screams. His eyes darted around frantically, taking in the four boys around him.

Chan’s voice was low in his ear, “Stop. Stop struggling, it won’t get you anywhere. Just hold still and do what we want and you’ll be fine.” Slowly, he stopped squirming and went almost limp in Chan’s grip. “I’m gonna let go. Sit down. If you try anything, you die. Got it?” He nodded furiously. It was an interesting yet peculiar thing to be the one in charge, the one who got to call the shots.

He released the scientist and he slowly sat down in his seat again, “What do you want?” He asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“For you to stop torturing us.”

“The reason why you’ve done all this.” Minho replied.

Felix said, “Answers to our past.”

“And the way out of here.” Woojin finished.

“I can’t tell you any of that!” He cried, “I’ll be killed!”

Before anyone could say anything, Felix shot forward and slammed the palm of his hand against his chest. The force of it knocked the air out of the man’s lungs and sent his chair reeling backwards, “If you don’t start talking then I’ll be the one killing you before they even have the chance.” Felix said, voice lower than usual.

“So die now or later?” Minho asked, eyes boring into him. “You’re choice. We’ll figure out what we need to either way.”

He gulped audibly and sat there, shaking. Finally, he slowly turned his chair around to face the computers again and began to type.

“If you’re thinking of calling for help, don’t.” Chan said. The ground began to shake underneath them and a wall of earth rose up to block the door they came in from. No one was gonna be able to get in.

He froze, shoulders bunched up tightly with nerves. He slowly began to start typing again. After a moment, he slid back from the screen, “There, there you go.” He gestured to the screen, voice shaking. He tried to keep moving backwards and away from them but Woojin stopped him, placing his hand on his shoulder firmly, “Not yet.” He murmured, watching the others crowd around the computer.

“What is this?” Minho turned to eye him suspiciously.

He swallowed a few times, “It’s your files. All the information we have gathered on you.”

The room was silent. They had all frozen. This is what they wanted. Why did they hesitate though? They glanced at each other and silently understood.

_ I’m afraid to know who I am. _

_ Will things change after this? _

_ The only me I’ve ever known, what if I’m suddenly somebody I’m not? _

Silently, they nodded to one another. A promise.

_ We are who we are. _

_ The only us that matters is the one in this very moment. _

_ Things may change. _

_ But I am ready for it. _

Chan turned back to the computer screen. He clicked on one of the files, he didn’t even see whose it was. He slowly read aloud.

"Subject #006. Name, Han Jisung…. “


	29. Chapter 29

_ ‘Hey.’ _

_ ‘Hey, what’s up? What’s going on?’ _

_ ‘A lot. Too much You need to get over here right now though. Get here as quickly as you can. I'll tell you where to go, just hurry.’ _

_ ‘What? Why? What’s going on.’ _

_ ‘Just get over here quick before-’ _

_ ‘Before what?’ _

_ ‘Before Chan kills someone.’ _

 

__________

_ 'Which door is it?’ _

_ ‘To your right. Second one.’ _

Jeongin jerked the door open but came face to face with a wall of solid earth. He slammed his foot against it in stubborn anger but it didn’t budge. He went to kick it again but it began to crack and crumble before falling into a mound of dirt at his feet.

He wasn’t sure what he was expecting to see when he rushed in. The room was some sort of lab but it was completely unfamiliar. The only thing he could recognize were four of the five figures already in the room.

Felix was kneeling on the ground, head bowed so low Jeongin couldn’t see his face. His shoulders were shaking. Minho’s eyes were downcast, mouth pressed into a hard line. He looked up briefly when he walked in and motioned the other to him. A man in a white coat was cowering on the ground with his arms raised up as if he were trying to defend himself. Chan was arched forward, a glare burning a hole into the man on the ground. His body was stiff and a cheese forward slightly. His hands were curled into tight fists at his sides but he looked ready to kill. The only thing stopping him was Woojin pressed against his back, arms wrapped tightly around his waist, head resting on his shoulder.

“What happened?” Jeongin demanded in a low whisper. His eyes darted around frantically. No one was saying anything at all. He felt his fingers flutter nervously at his sides and swore he could feel the tension in the room.

Minho shook his head quietly and pulled Felix back to his feet.  _ ‘Wait for the others.’ _

They each ran in one by one and looked around in confusion before being waved down by Minho. When Jisung ran in, Felix flung himself at the other boy with a sob tearing from his throat and wrapped him tightly in a fierce hug. Jisung looked confused at first but accepted it with a questioning look in his eyes.

“You wanna tell us what happened?” Changbin asked, voice carefully low, “And why Chan wants to kill that guy?”

Chan said nothing. A glance from Woojin made Minho swallow and sit down in front of the computer. The others crowded around him as he began to read out loud, voice shaking.

“Subject #006. Name, Han Jisung. Date of birth, September 14, 2000. Age,” his voice nearly broke, “17.” Jisung sucked in a harsh breath, almost a gasp. It had never dawned on him that he never actually knew his age. He had a feeling he was young but not that young. Minho glanced at him, sadly. ‘ _ Too young _ .’ He seemed to say.

Minho had to take a deep breath before continuing, “Subject is able to control air and wind. He has been notably seen attacking with harsh winds but can also use them to propel both himself and others with wind to give the illusion of flying. Subject has no projected future abilities as of now.” A small nod from Jisung. He knew this already so why was Minho looking at him with so much pain?

Minho opened his mouth to keep going but the words wouldn’t come out. Finally, he gave up and motioned for Jisung to look himself. He approached hesitantly, unsure of why Minho couldn’t go on.

A voice in the back of his mind told him that he should read out loud for the others but his eyes were already scanning over the text. His throat closed up before he could listen to it.

He didn’t say anything for a long minute. His hands were gripping the edge of the table so hard his knuckles were turning white. Finally, his shaking legs gave out from under him and he slid to the ground onto his knees. They couldn’t see his face, his head was hanging too low.

They crowded around him, his file momentarily forgotten. Even Chan seemed to break free from his trance to glance at him in concern.

Minho slid out of the chair and to the ground, wrapping his arms tightly around his shaking body, “I’m so sorry.” His voice was muffled against his neck, “Jisung I’m so sorry.”

“Subject was found abandoned at the age of 3.” Seungmin read, voice filling with horror, “Scientists began experimenting on him soon after. Powers first manifested at age 7.”

He kept reading. It was mostly about his progression with his powers. What he could do and what he couldn’t do. Jisung wasn’t listening anymore. He was still hung on the word ‘abandoned.’ He tried to say something but the words felt like ashes in his mouth. Minho was still whispering apologies and holding him. He was glad for it, he would have let go of everything by now if Minho weren’t keeping him here.

Suddenly, Seungmin’s voice caught and stopped dead. His eyes shot around the room, frantically wide. “ _ No, _ ” He whispered. His eyes focused on Jisung, “How far did you read?”

He couldn’t help it, he laughed, short and bitter, “Long enough to know that I’m unwanted. Why?”

Seungmin shook his head and looked at Minho, “Please tell me this doesn’t mean what it says.  _ Please _ .”

The only thing Minho could do was shake his head and whisper, “I hope not.”

“What does it say?” Jeongin sounded like he didn’t want to ask but someone had to.

Seungmin swallowed and felt his throat sealing up, he was almost unable to speak, “Experiment failed. Subject to be terminated shortly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I changed my url on Tumblr so I'll probably be changing my username here too to match but not until after this fic is done I think.


	30. Chapter 30

Cracks began to appear of the ground. The earth swelled up in a wave and crashed over the scientist covering him like a blanket. His head was uncovered and he struggled to break free. 

Everyone’s eyes were on Chan, a little scared, a little in awe. He himself didn’t say anything, just unwrapped Woojin’s arms from where they still were around his waist and walked over to where the others were. He nudged Seungmin away from the computer before sitting down in front of it. He started to click on something but stopped.

He slid out of the chair and knelt down next to where Minho was still holding Jisung on the ground. His hand carefully found the boy’s shoulder. Slowly, Jisung looked up at him, wary, almost afraid. Chan only said, “You are not unwanted.” He gave his shoulder a slight squeeze before pushing himself back up into the chair and clicked a file. His own.

“Subject #002. Name, Bang Chan. Date of birth, October 23rd, 1997. Age, 20. Subject is able to control the earth and bend it to his will. Is also able to cause minor earth tremors. Subject is projected to be able to cause larger earthquakes in the future.” He pressed his mouth into a thin line before continuing, “Subject was abandoned at birth at a hospital. His parents were never found. Scientist took him and began experiments soon after. Powers first manifested at the age of 4.” Another pause followed by a grim smile, “Experiment failed. Subject to be terminated shortly.”

No one said anything. There was almost a pattern to it. Two abandoned children, two failed experiments. What was next? As if they didn’t already know. As if they didn’t already have a sickening feeling.

Chan glanced behind him to the scientist still struggling on the ground, “How long until we’re ‘terminated’?”

“Just as soon as they find you.” He snarled, “You’re all done for.” Chan let out a soft, unimpressed, ‘hmph.’ He opened another file.

“Subject #005. Name, Hwang Hyunjin. Date of birth, March 20th, 2000.” Subject is able to control fire and his own body temperature along with the temperature of his surroundings. Scientists have observed that he does not require an external source of fire, rather, he is able to create fire at will. Subject has no projected future abilities as of now. Subject was found wandering the streets at the age of 6 and taken. Scientists began experimenting on him soon after. Powers first manifested at the age of 7. Experiment failed. Subject to be terminated shortly.”

Hyunjin just nodded slowly, as if he understood, “It wasn’t anything I didn’t expect, not after your files.” He said softly. Seungmin squeezed his hand gently and whispered: “I’m sorry.”

Chan just nodded, a little sadly, and opened another file, “Subject #009.” Jeongin’s head lifted up a slightly, “Date of birth, February 8th, 2001. Age, 17. Subject was originally thought to only be able to control water but is currently able to control any type of liquid including blood. Scientists predict that the subject will develop more abilities but they are unsure as to what they may be. Subject is under close observation. Subject was found abandoned at the age of 1. Scientists began experimenting on him soon after. Powers first manifested at the age of 8. Subject was nearly abandoned due to the long amount of time it took for powers to first manifest. Experiment failed. Subject to be terminated shortly.”

They glanced at Jeongin to see his reaction but all he did was turn to glare at the scientist, “You need to update that.” He said, “Because I can do more now.” He reached out with his hand open before closing it into a tight fist. The air around his hand began to tighten and condense until it formed into water. He opened his fist and flung his flicked his wrist in the direction of the scientist. The water splashed onto his face and he began to splutter and cough.

“I knew what to expect.” He said quietly as he turned towards the others, face softening, “It hurts but-” He stopped and just shook his head. He didn’t anything else so Chan slowly turned and opened another file.

“Subject #004. Name-”

“I want to read my own.”

Chan’s head whipped around to glance at Changbin in surprise but he nodded. Changbin leaned over to look at the screen and read out loud. He spoke quickly, barely pausing to take a breath.

“Name, Seo Changbin. Date of birth, August 11th, 1999. Age, 19. Subject is able to control ice and his own body temperature along with the temperature of his surroundings. Subject has no projected future abilities as of now. Scientists have observed that he does not require an external source of ice, rather, he is able to create ice at will. Subject was taken from an orphanage at the age of 4. Scientists began experimenting on him soon after. Powers first manifested at the age of 6. Experiment failed. Subject to be terminated shortly.”

He shrugged and stepped away, “Not anything unexpected.” If anyone saw the look of pain that flashed across his face, they didn’t say anything.

“Subject #001.” His eyes cut briefly to Woojin’s when he heard him suck in a breath, he felt slightly apologetic, “Name, Kim Woojin. Date of birth, April 8th, 1997. Age, 21. Subject was originally thought to be a healer but has since demonstrated other abilities. Subject’s future abilities are unpredicted. Subject is under close observation. Subject was taken from his home a few months after birth. Scientists began experimenting on him at the age of 2. Powers first manifested at the age of 5. Experiment failed. Subject to be terminated shortly.”

Woojin’s voice was impossibly soft in realization, “So I’ve been here nearly my entire life.” He shook his head and lifted his eyes to where Chan was.  _ ‘And so have you.’  _ His eyes lifted and met Woojin’s briefly but then he turned to open another file but the look of sadness in his eyes were unmistakable.

“Wait!” The scientist on the ground shouted. His eyes bore into Woojin, “What, what are you exactly? What else can you do? You’re not just a healer, we know that, but we can’t figure you out.”

He tilted his head to the side as if in thought. “You don’t have to answer.” Chan murmured but small smile formed on Woojin’s lips, it was almost dangerous, “I can take life just as easily as I can give it.” He said coolly, “Always have been able to. Everyone just made the mistake of thinking me only as a healer. I could’ve killed you all by now.”

The man’s eyes were huge and afraid, “What’s stopped you?”

He thought for a moment, “My own patience.”

Felix gaped at him, “You’re a little scary, you know that?” Woojin’s face softened, “You have no reason to be afraid of me. I’ll never hurt you.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

Felix nodded slowly, trustingly, and nudged Chan, “Read mine next.” He nodded.

“Subject #007. Name, Lee Felix. Date of birth, September 15th, 2000. Age, 17. Subject is telekinetic. Subject has notably been seen both moving, stopping, and crushing objects with his mind. Subject is able to stop items such as bullets and lift items as heavy as bodies to imitate flying similarly to the abilities of Subject #006. Subject has no projected abilities as of now. Subject was found lost in an airport at the age of 7. Scientists took him and began experimenting on him soon after. Powers first manifested at the age of 8. Experiment failed. Subject to be terminated shortly.”

Felix’s brow was creased, “You would think,” he began, “You would think they would have more information on us. I’ve been here for 10 years, Woojin for nearly 21, and this is all they have to say about us? It doesn’t make sense.” He glared at the scientist accusingly.

“He’s right.” Seungmin said quietly, following his gaze, “Even now, you’re still hiding something from us, aren’t you?”

The man was obviously still mad at the fact that he was still trapped, “Nothing you need to know.” He snapped. Felix moved as if to attack but Minho reached up and grabbed his sleeve, “Soon. You’ll find out soon enough.”

Chan nodded, “We have the advantage right now, they can’t hide everything forever.” Slowly, Felix nodded and stepped back. Chan opened another file.

“Subject #008. Name, Kim Seungmin. Date of birth, September 22nd, 2000. Age, 17. Subject’s abilities center around time. Subject has notably been seen freezing places, people, and objects in time. Subject is projected to be able to see the future and to able to travel into the past and future. Subject was taken from his home at the age of 4. Scientists began experimenting on him soon after. Powers first manifested at the age of 7. Experiment failed. Subject to be terminated shortly.”

“You need to fix mine too.” He said quietly to the scientist, “Because I  _ can _ go backwards and forwards in time. Just not very far. Yet.” His voice faded out near the end as if he were only talking to himself. The man must’ve not heard him, his expression was too shocked.

Minho smiled at him, “We’re a little bit more than what you expected aren’t we?” He tried to respond but Minho turned away, ignoring him, “Mine’s last, right?” Chan hesitated, “Yours is there but there’s one more file we haven’t read yet.” He hovered the cursor over another file. It was titled, ‘PROJECT STRAY KIDS’.

“Read mine first.” He nodded and clicked Minho’s file.

“Subject #003. Name, Lee Minho. Date of birth, October 25th, 1998. Age, 19. Subjects abilities center around the mind but his total abilities are difficult for scientists to pinpoint to the extent that they are unsure as to what the Subject can and can’t do as of right now. Subject’s projected abilities are unknown. Subject was-” Chan’s breath caught.

Minho blinked, “Keep reading.” Chan looked concerned, “You sure you wanna know?” He nodded, “Whatever it says, it can’t hurt me. Keep going.” Chan swallowed tightly and forced himself to speak.

“Subject was given to scientists shortly after birth. Scientists began experimenting immediately after. Powers first manifested at the age of 3.”

They didn’t say anything for a long time, they just stood there, trying to absorb everything. It was a lot to take in at once, about themselves, each other. A voice shocked them back into reality.

“There’s still so much you don’t know.” Minho was looking at the scientist but it felt like he was speaking to more than just only him.

“The same applies to you.” Was all he said, eyes hard. Minho just shook his head, “I know more than you think. You never let me forget that.”

“Minho,” Jeongin’s voice was hesitant, “You’re acting strange, your file was weird too.”

Seungmin spoke slowly, “It said you were given over to scientists as if your parents did it willingly.” His voice softened and almost broke, “I’m so sorry.”

Minho smiled softly at them, “I know. It’s alright.”

Changbin finally said it, what they were all thinking, “You aren’t a failed experiment, you’re not gonna be terminated,”  _ Unlike the rest of us. _ The last part remained unspoken but the words still hung heavily in the air.

He shook his head again, a small smile spreading across his features, “There’s still so much you don’t know.” He said again, softer now.

“Minho,” Woojin’s voice was careful, “What are you hiding?” He didn’t answer, his eyes were focused on Chan. The other boy was watching him carefully but said nothing. Minho’s smile fell. The others glanced back and forth between the two, nervous and unsure. Chan finally spoke.

“No more secrets?”

Minho nodded, once.

"No more secrets.”

Chan nodded as well and opened the last file. It was titled at the top with bold letters.

“PROJECT STRAY KIDS, TRIAL 9, EXPERIMENT FAILED.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used their international ages as of September 12, 2018. (This is why Felix is still 17.)


	31. Chapter 31

“What-”

“No questions.” Minho said quickly, “When I said no more secrets, I meant it, but we need to read the file first. I’ll answer what I can after.” He nodded at Chan.

“ _No!_ ” The scientist yelled. He began to thrash on the ground again, “ _Stop, you can’t!”_

Chan ignored him and began to read, “The goal of this project is to make a way for scientists to create a new species of humans, one with extraordinary powers. It started with a total of nine boys. These boys were selected because scientists had observed them and their families closely and determined that they would not be missed if they were to disappear under mysterious and untraceable circumstances.”

“So we really are unwanted.” Hyunjin murmured.

“Maybe we are to them.” Jeongin replied softly, “But not to us, not to each other.”

“You are not unwanted.” Chan said again before continuing to read the file aloud, “Scientists were successful and the nine selected children each developed unique and powerful powers. Experiments continued in order to find the limits of these phenomenal powers and how they may find a way to give others these powers. So far, scientists have been unsuccessful in finding and easy way to duplicate and disperse this power. All in all, the experiment is a failure so far.” His eyebrow creased and he looked up, “That’s all there is.”

Minho nodded, “Basically, we’re their guinea pigs. Yes, we were initially successful, we did get powers, but they,” He jerked his head towards the man on the floor, “Were impatient. It took _years_ for our powers to develop, they didn’t want to wait that long to get a new batch of people like us so they tried to find a quicker way.”

And then, to their surprise, he walked to one of the cabinets lining the walls and opened it. He didn’t even hesitate, as if he knew exactly what he was looking for and where to go to find it. He reached in and pulled something out.

A long syringe full of clear liquid.

Seungmin gasped out loud and Chan shot to his feet, “What are you doing?” He demanded, voice low.

Minho shook his head, eying the syringe warily, “I’m not gonna do anything to you. I just need you to know what this is. This is their shortcut method.” His expression turned to one of disgust and he let it fall from his hands and onto the floor. The glass shattered and the liquid spilled everywhere. The scientist began to wail. “The unfortunate issue for them,” Minho said, stepping over it and rejoining the group, “Is that it doesn’t work.”

“And that’s why the experiments have gone on.” He finished, “They want their race of superhumans. They think they can achieve it through us.”

Another long stretch of silence. It all seemed to sink in.

_We were never meant to be anything more than someone else’s prototype. All these years, all this suffering, for nothing._

“But,” Changbin said, eyes settling on Minho, “How do you know all of this?”

He winced and tried to swallow the lump that was beginning to swell in his throat. He had expected someone to ask and he knew he had to explain but there was just so much to say, so much they didn’t know.

He nodded towards the computer, “This is Trial 9. This isn’t their first experiment.”

“Are there more like us then?” Felix asked.

Minho smiled sadly, “Exactly like us. They are us.”

_No more secrets._

“You can’t remember who you were in the past. You don’t know. Because they took it from you, they took it from all of you. There were nine trials total. It was the same group that was experimented on each time. Us. Each time a new trial started, they wiped your memories of the past trials, of your past life. All they left you with was knowledge of your powers and your name. It was like a clean slate for them to work on. Each time you were introduced by the numbers given to you. I’ve always been Subject #003 to them, never Minho. Whatever happened next was left up to fate.” His eyes hardened, “Nine trials in total. Eight trials we failed. We failed because they couldn’t succeed. We were punished because of their failure. Eight times-” His voice caught in his throat and he struggled to speak, “Eight times they made you forget who you were and forget who each other was. It hurt, it hurt so badly to see you and you not recognize me, not recognize each other.” He couldn’t stop the emotion from welling up in his chest and soon, tears began to spill over onto his cheeks, “Because no matter what they did, no matter how hard they tried, I couldn’t forget, they couldn’t make me forget you, couldn’t make me forget any of you. And it hurt,” his face crumpled, “It hurt to be the only one who remembered. I missed you.” He sobbed, “I missed you all so much.”

Jisung slowly walked up to Minho and took his face into his hands. Their eyes met and to Minho’s surprise, Jisung had tears streaming down his face as well, “I’m sorry,” his voice was shaking, “I’m _so_ sorry for forgetting you.” They pulled each other close and buried their faces against one another’s shoulders, “Never again.” Jisung cried, “I’ll never forget you again.”

“They said, they said they’d kill you if I told you.” Minho sobbed, “I couldn’t, I couldn’t let you guys get hurt, not any more than you already were. God, they tortured us, almost killed us. I’m so sorry, I should’ve done this a long time ago.”

“No.” Woojin said quietly, “You did right. Even if you had told us, we would’ve forgotten or died. I’m sorry too.” He added, eyes shining with unshed tears, “I won’t forget any of you. I’d rather die than forget.”

“Remind us.” Felix said softly, taking one of Minho’s hands, “Not of what they did to us, but what we were to each other.”

Despite his tears, Minho laughed shakily, “Trial 6. That was the longest trial, I really thought they would succeed that time and get what they wanted from us. It was the last day we were together. They put us in a lab together and gave us instructions on what to do but we ignored them.” Another shaky laugh, “You and Jisung flung us around like we were flying. Changbin made it snow. It was one of the best days of my life.” His face fell, “The next day, we were all gathered and you didn’t remember anything. They wiped your memories again. Trial failed, start over. You were 14, maybe 13.”

“We were like a family.” Seungmin murmured. 

“We are a family.” Changbin said fiercely.

Chan nodded, “This,” he said, gesturing vaguely with his hands, “Explains a lot.” He was looking at Minho, “You always seemed to know more than what you were letting on. It was odd but I never thought to question it.”

Minho nodded, fingers curling around Jisung’s, “I know. I know a lot of things.” His eyes found Seungmin, “Our bond. The link we share. Remember? I reached out to you first.” _‘And each time, each trial, I retaught you guys this. So we were always connected no matter what.’_ He looked at Changbin next, “I didn’t dig through your mind to find your name even if it felt like it.” He smiled, “I remembered it, I remembered you.”

Changbin swallowed, almost unable to speak, “Thank you. Thank you for remembering me even though I didn’t remember you.”

He nodded and smiled, “The first time I realized that they tried to wipe my memories and couldn’t, I made myself promise to never, ever forget any of you.”

“What now though?” Jeongin asked, “Are we still gonna be able to get out?”

He nodded, “Yes. We almost escaped once. Trial 4. We nearly made it. They didn’t change the exit afterwards either.”

“That’s how you knew where it was.” Woojin realized.

“Yeah. We have to take the same way out but this time, it’ll be different.”

Slowly, he met each of their eyes. The same light remained even in their darkest times. It always surprised him how determined they were. Determined to get out, determined to stay together no matter what. He asked, “Do you trust me?”

Chan didn’t hesitate to answer, “Always.” The others nodded in agreement.

He pointed to the ground, “Let him go.” And the blanket of earth trapping him moved away. He struggled to his feet and moved as if to run but-

“Felix, don’t let him get away.” And the man’s arms locked to his sides, legs stiffened and he stood there frozen.

Minho stepped away from Jisung so he could face the scientist. He missed the other boy’s warmth immediately.

Slowly, he pulled out another syringe of clear liquid from seemingly nowhere. He grimaced, “I hate this stuff.”

And ignoring the cries of the others, he plunged the needle into his neck.


	32. Chapter 32

Then, the syringe shattered in Minho’s hands and once again, the glass and liquid fell to the floor. 

Felix had his arm outstretched towards Minho, hand closed into a fist. “No.” He choked out, voice thick, “You can’t, not without telling us exactly what that stuff is. You said no more secrets.” He whispered, “No more secrets.”

Minho’s lips parted slightly in shock. Slowly, he reached up and removed the needle still in his neck. He stared at it in his hands before letting it drop to the ground as well. “Sorry.” He murmured, hands falling limply to his sides, “You’re right, there’s still more you don’t know. But there’s still some things I don’t know either.” He slowly walked over to the cabinet against the wall and took out another syringe, “Hey Seungmin.” He called softly, “How many times?”

The other boy blinked in surprise before his eyes filled with understanding, “Three times.” He murmured, “They’ve used it on me three times.”

“You said you could see the future when they did it to you, right?” Jeongin asked, remembering.

“Yeah.” He said, shaking his head bitterly, “And I forget what I saw right after.”

Minho nodded slowly, “Who else have they used it on? Chan?”

“Twice.” He said after a moment, his jaw clenched, “I caused an earthquake so powerful I thought I would bring the entire building down. Did you guys not feel it?”

“No.” Hyunjin said, shaking his head, “I definitely felt it. I didn’t know it was you though. I thought I was gonna die both times.” The others nodded in agreement, “It was awful.” Jeongin murmured.

Chan’s eyes lowered, “Sorry.” He said quietly, almost ashamed.

“Don’t say that,” Woojin said, voice equally soft, “You didn’t mean to. You couldn’t help it.” Chan nodded but his eyes were still filled with grief.

“Someone else.” Minho’s brow furrowed, “Who else?”

“Me.” Changbin murmured quietly, “Only once though.”

“What happened?” Seungmin asked, worried.

He shook his head, “All I remember is getting a needle stuck in my neck and blacking out. The next thing I know, I wake up and I’m trapped in my own ice. I got out. Eventually.” His voice ended with a bitter note.

“What’s the point of all of this?” Felix demanded. The man didn’t answer, just pressed his lips into a hard line so he whirled to face Minho instead, “Do you know?”

He shook his head, eyes still looking down at the syringe in his hands, eyes not quite focusing on it, “No, I don’t know. But I intend to find out.”

“What does it make you do?” Woojin nodded at the syringe.

He smiled quietly, “Mind control, for a short amount of time. I can make him,” he jerked his head towards the scientist, “Tell me anything I want and honestly, it’s the only reason I know what I do. Once I figured out what this stuff does to me, I learned how to use it to my advantage.”

After a beat, Jeongin asked, “Is there anything else we should know before you try that?” He had been eying the clear liquid warily.

Minho nodded slowly, “I think I know why this trial failed. What I don’t know is why we as experiments failed.” A beat passed as he paused to gather his thoughts, “This batch of serum, whatever they wanna call it, didn’t work. They tried it on us first and yeah, we briefly had new powers but they never stayed for long so there was no guarantee that it would work on people without powers, or it wouldn’t be permanent. They failed.” He pursed his lips, still in thought, “But why did we fail?”

Chan leveled a glare at the scientist, “Anything you wanna say?” He glared back, “Go to hell.” Changbin laughed bitterly, eyes brimming with hate, “This place is already hell.”

Hyunjin turned to Minho, “Are you really gonna do it?” He asked, voice careful. He nodded in response, “If you guys trust me. It’s the only way we’ll get answers.”

“I trust you.” Seungmin said quietly. The others nodded in agreement, “We all do.”

A sad smile played on his lips, “Thanks guys.” He raised the syringe and positioned the needled to his neck.

"Wait!” Woojin cried eyes widening. Minho froze, “What is it?”

“Does it hurt?”

“Does what hurt? This?”

“Yes, does it hurt?”

He nodded, “If I were dying, this is how I imagine it would feel.” He said honestly.

Woojin approached him and placed his hand on his shoulder. It put Minho at ease. With a slow nod, he said, “I’ll do what I can to help. No promises but,” he hesitated but nodded, more so to himself, “I’ll try.”

He nodded, grateful. “Ready?” He asked.

“No.” Jeongin said truthfully.

“Me neither.” And again, he plunged the needle into his neck.

Suddenly, the world was brought into fuller focus. He could feel everything. He felt their heartbeats, they sounded like drums in his ears. He felt the blood rushing through their veins. Every inhale, every nervous foot tap, the slightest flutter of one’s fingers, each time someone blinked, he felt it. And he could feel their emotions as well. Anxiousness. Sadness. Worry. Fear. Even some anger. He could change that, he could give them happiness, hope, even if it were false and short, he could give them some respite. He was tempted, he was sorely tempted; they had suffered long enough. And maybe he did. A quick glance was all it took to send them each a brief shot of encouragement, like someone lacing their fingers through each of their hands and giving it a slight squeeze. Then, there was something new there. It was a soft yellow, it was hope.

He took a deep breath and realized that he wasn’t in that much pain. Sometimes, he hadn’t even been able to ask questions, to demand information, he had been curled up on the ground trying not to cry out in pain, tears streaming down his cheeks. Briefly, he reached up and gave Woojin’s hand a grateful pat. _ ’Thank you.’ _ He still felt a dull throb of pain every now and then but it was practically nothing.

Finally, he focused all his attention on the scientist in front of him and let everything else fade out into a soft buzz in his ears, background noise. He could feel it, every breath, every blink, every heartbeat. He raised his head until his eyes met the scientists. A gateway. It made him remember one last thing he forgot to tell the others: why he was wearing a blindfold at the beginning of the 9th Trial, when they all met again for the first time. It was because the scientists thought he could get into their minds if they made eye contact with him. Only partially true, he needed the serum to be able to do anything like that but to them, he was unpredictable, an uncontrollable factor in their little game. Better for them to be safe than sorry. He did sometimes wonder why they never made him put it back on after but not enough to ask. Freedom was still freedom even if it was just a little bit. By now, it didn’t matter, there were other things to worry about.

He felt the scientists mind and body go slack, succumbing to his will. There was nothing he could do now. He must have known this would happen but still chose to not say anything until forced. Minho supposed it was his form of loyalty. That didn’t really matter either at this point.

He took a deep breath. There was a million things he wanted to ask but he knew he was running out of time, the effect would only last so long and the others were counting on him to get answers. For them, he would do anything.

“Tell me what happens next.”

He answered with a blank expression, no emotion in his voice, no way to tell whether or not he cared at all. But, he told the truth; he had no choice but to.

“Next, you all die.”


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHO'S READY FOR I AM: YOU? NOT ME HAHAHAHAHA

“WARNING. PROJECT STRAY KIDS HAS FAILED. GUARDS ARE AUTHORIZED TO KILL SUBJECTS ON SIGHT.”

They froze, “Looks like they found the body.” Changbin muttered, eyes shifting around as if expecting the black clothed guards to leap from the walls and attack.

Chan nodded and began to jog. He waved with his hand for them to follow. “We know where to go, we know what to do, they can’t stop us.” The others murmured in agreement and ran after him.

They met the first group of guards not long after. It was small, maybe five or six of them. They raised their guns as if to shoot but a wave of Jisung’s hand sent them flying into the air. Changbin turned his eyes up coolly and froze them solid. Another wave from Jisung sent them crashing back down to the ground, their bodies shattered into shards of ice. They kept hadn't even stopped running.

Suddenly, Chan skidded to a stop. His arm flew up to stop the others. “Big group around the corner, there’s so many of them.” He whispered, turning to face them, eyes wide.

“We’re close.” Minho whispered back.

Chan nodded and slowly pulled a syringe from his pocket. He glanced at it and back up at them again, hesitant. “We ready?” They nodded and slowly, he brought the needle to his neck, hands shaking slightly.

The empty syringe fell to the ground and shattered as the earth began to shake. The edges of Chan’s vision blurred as the pain nearly forced him to black out. Someone grabbed his hand and the pain began to ease.

Woojin’s eyes were filled with concern, “You okay?”

He was about to reply when someone shouted, “Look out!”

The ground was shaking more now, it was almost too hard to stand up. The ceiling above them was beginning to cave, chunks were starting to rain down on them.

Felix threw his hands up and the debris stopped mid-air. More and more kept falling and building up. “Run!” He gasped, arms shaking, “We need to move!”

“Come on!” Hyunjin yelled, dragging Seungmin with one hand, Jeongin with the other. The others followed after, grabbing onto each other for support. The building was coming down on them, the earth shaking under their feet.

The guards ahead of them weren’t faring any better. Massive chunks of the ceiling had already fallen and crushed some. Others could barely stand on the quaking ground. Some shouted when they saw the boys stumbling towards them and tried to shoot even though they could barely aim.

Small pillars of ice shot up from the ground on front of the bullets, stopping some of them. Not all though. They shattered as Changbin ran past, clutching Minho’s hand.

Jisung shouted, “Look!” He frantically pointed with one hand, the other hand gripping Felix’s. He was pointing to the end of the hall, to a large white door.

Felix moved his arm like he was throwing something. The building debris he had been holding up flew far above their heads, above the guards’ heads, and to other side. It made a horrible sound when it hit. That didn’t matter though, it left a huge hole where the door had been. He couldn’t help but smile to himself, “Just make your own way, yeah?” Next to him, Jisung laughed and Felix joined.

Suddenly, he gasped, his laughter stopping dead in his throat. He looked down to see a patch of red growing on his white shirt right where his heart was. His eyes slowly met Jisung’s horrified ones. The world pitched and he felt like he was falling, the world fading away into blackness. Debris rained down on them. There was no one there to stop it from falling.


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM YOU IS DROPPING IN ROUGHLY 11 HOURS I AM: NOT OKAY ISHWDNWBCNA

He ignored Hyunjin’s shout when he wrenched his hand away. He ignored the ceiling caving in on them. He ignored the bullets flying, barely missing him. All he could see was Felix, Felix laughing, Felix falling, and in that moment, Seungmin understood Minho better than he thought he ever would. 

_ What if I lose you? _

Amidst the chaos around them, Jisung was cradling Felix’s body to his chest. His panicked eyes met Seungmin’s, “Oh my god, what do we do? What do we do?”

Seungmin let out a choked sob, unable to answer. He reached out shakily to take Felix’s hand in his own. It was already cold and limp. Seungmin felt something inside him break.

He knew it was a waste of energy but he needed a moment, he needed everything around him to stop or else he would go insane. He reached out to the world around him and forced time to stop, the world froze. He looked around, feeling utterly alone.

Jisung had tears streaming down his cheeks, his face frozen in pain. Felix lay still in his arms, eyes glassy and unseeing. The blood on his shirt had stopped spreading, at least for now.

He looked over his shoulder to see Hyunjin reaching towards him, eyes desperate. He was still gripping Jeongin’s hand tightly in his own. Seungmin felt a stab of guilt. He knew Hyunjin had put himself in charge of their safety and Seungmin had made his already difficult job nearly impossible. Him breaking away had put all of them in more danger.

He took a deep breath, shutting his eyes tightly. He needed to make this right. He let his mind go and shift back, pulling time with him. The world moved in reverse.

Too soon, he hit a wall, unable to go back any further. He felt Hyunjin’s hand in his own again, heard the sound of gunshots and the sound of the building crashing down on them. He kept his eyes shut and prayed to whatever god out there that might be listening for the life of his brother. He opened his eyes and there he was. Felix.

He was smiling, face full of happiness. But it shattered and the horrific scene replayed itself. Felix laughing before his body jerked unnaturally. Him falling. Then he was gone again. All in a blink. The only difference was Jisung. He held Felix the same way, arms wrapped tightly around his body, pulling him close. But he didn’t panic the same way. Instead, he threw his head back and let out a wail of anguish so full of pain that it was as if he were the one who had been shot. It shattered Seungmin’s heart to pieces.

_ No _ .

He reached again and pulled the world again. It jerked back in time roughly in response. He hit the wall faster than he wanted but there was nothing he could do; he let go. Another prayer, another hope. He opened his eyes.

Too soon.

Felix was already falling, his laughter still frozen on his face. Jisung watched him fall, eyes wide, he was frozen. The world was crashing down on them.

_ No,  _ He had to try again.

He pulled and hit the wall so hard he almost blacked out. Too soon, too soon, he needed to go back farther but he couldn’t. He couldn’t do it.

He didn’t even open his eyes. All he could hear was Jisung’s piercing cries.

_ No no no _ .

He fell to his knees, hand slipping out of Hyunjin’s once again. The other boy looked down at him in confusion as tears flowed down his cheeks as realization struck him.

He couldn’t do it.

He wasn’t strong enough.

He couldn’t save Felix.

He swallowed and tried to stand but his legs were shaking too badly. He felt something move in his pocket. Hyunjin was shouting something but his voice sounded far away. He ignored whatever he was saying and pulled out a syringe from his pocket. It was full of clear liquid.

It was like the world stopped spinning when he saw it, and he hadn’t even done anything. He remembered to pain and the pictures that had flashed before his eyes for less than a second before they were gone, forgotten. But, oh god, he remembered the paint. He felt like he was dying, maybe dying hurt less.

But maybe this is what he needed, that little extra boost to help him over that wall so he could go back far enough to save Felix. He was afraid, he was so afraid, but he knew he would hate himself one day if he didn’t try.

Over the chaos of the building falling and people dying, he met Jisung’s tearstained eyes. They were so full of pain and sorrow that it hurt. He wanted to fix that too, he never wanted to see his brother in that much pain again.

_ For you, I’d do anything _ .

And before he could allow himself a moment to hesitate, he plunged the needle into his neck.

His voice was still far away, but Seungmin swore he heard Hyunjin screaming his name.

 

__________

  
He saw himself and nearly panicked.  _ What was going on?  _ But then he realized, he was seeing a future image of himself. He was seeing the future.

_ No. _

_ This wasn’t it. _

_ This wasn’t what he needed. _

_ This wouldn’t save Felix. _

The effect the clear liquid had on him was still the same as it had been every single other time, he had always been forced to see the future but forget it right after. It was like a curse.

He wanted to yell in frustration. He was a fool, he felt useless, he should have known this would have happened, that it wouldn’t have done anything for Felix.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered to no one as tears ran down his cheeks, “I’m so so sorry.” He hastily tried to wipe them away before looking up. He needed to at least try to figure out what was going to happen to them. Even more importantly, he had to try to remember it.

_ Do it right, at least this once, do it right. _

He was outside, it was dark out, the only light came from the stars. He squinted and saw he was wearing the same white uniform he had worn his entire life but this time, it was covered in dirt. More importantly, his future self wasn’t alone. There were other boys with him, ones he recognized: his brothers, his family. They had their backs to him and he craned his neck to see what they were looking at.

It was the remains of a wrecked building, brought down by some force or phenomenon. None of it was still standing up as it should have been, it was if it had been crushed and torn down from the inside out.

He gasped out loud in realization at what he was seeing.

They would make it.

They were going to escape.

Tears filled his eyes again, tears of relief. After all they went through, they would make it.

_ But what about Felix? _

He hurriedly wiped his tears away again and tried to find the boy but the world was going black, he couldn’t hold on much longer, he couldn’t stay. All he could see now were their dark outlines. Desperately, he tried to count them.  _ Nine. There needed to be nine. _

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

_ No. _

His vision was getting even blurrier, he could barely see. Their future selves were barely visible against the night sky.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

It had to have been a mistake.  _ Please _ , he pleaded silently as his vision went completely dark,  _ Let it be a mistake. _

_ I can’t lose you, I can’t lose any of you. I can’t. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyways you guys have full permission to fight me in the comments *laughs nervously*


	35. Chapter 35

Jeongin inched backed farther from the flames closing in around him, terrified. He tried to drag Seungmin with him but he had almost no strength left in his arms and the other boy’s body was dead weight. 

His back hit a wall. He swallowed heavily and concentrated on the air around him, pulling as much moisture as he could from it. Tiny droplets of water formed and spread out into a thin shield to protect him and Seungmin. He knew it wouldn’t do much but at this point, anything was better than nothing.

Suddenly, Seungmin’s body began to convulse, eyes opening but they were pitch black. He gasped, hands clawing at his body, gasps tearing from his throat. Jeongin shrank back even further, eyes wide in fear.

Soon though, his body stopped shaking so badly and when his eyes opened again, they were back to normal. He still lay there, chest heaving and gasping for air, but he was back, he was Seungmin again.

A sob of relief tore from Jeongin’s mouth and he threw himself at Seungmin, burying his face into his chest. A tired arm threw itself over his back, pulling him closer.

“What happened?” Seungmin rasped, arm still wrapped around Jeongin. The boy finally pulled away and helped Seungmin sit up. He didn’t say anything for a moment, instead, he dragged more moisture from the air to add to his shield.

Finally, he said, very quietly, “Hyunjin happened.”

 

__________

 

T _he moment he saw Seungmin’s body fall to the ground, he felt a piece of inside of him break. He screamed his name over and over again until his throat was raw but he knew nothing could bring the other boy back except time itself. Somehow, it all felt like his fault._

_ G'o!’ He shouted, pushing Jeongin to where Seungmin’s body was, ‘Run! I’ll protect you, I’ll protect all of you, just go!’ The poor boy looked so afraid as he ran away and it cut Hyunjin even deeper, he was so sorry. _

_ He turned his back on them to face the guards still scrambling around. He felt a deep hatred stir inside of him. _

They’re the ones who did this.

They’re the ones who hurt your brothers.

_ He had never felt like this before, it was unfamiliar, almost terrifying. But the thoughts weren’t wrong, it was  _ their _ fault. A final thought slithered into his mind, dark and seething, like a poisonous snake. _

Make them pay.

_ He pulled a syringe from his pocket and looked down on it, lips twisting into a frown. _

‘Promise me,’  _ Seungmin had whispered to him, moments before the world went to hell,  _ ‘Promise me you won’t use it.’  _ He gripped the syringe in his hands tighter before bringing up to his neck, eyes burning with a cold determination. _

I’m sorry.

But someone has to pay.

_ And he set the world on fire. _

 

__________

 

Woojin lunged forward as Chan’s body finally gave out. The earth has finally stopped shaking but that was the least of his worries. 

He was separated from the rest of his family.

Chan was nearly passed out in his arms.

A fire was quickly spreading and he had no way to stop it and no way to protect the others from it.

And Felix.

He hadn’t seen the freckled boy fall but he had heard Jisung’s tortured cries and immediately knew something had gone horribly wrong. He felt a gaping, unseeable wound tear into his chest when he turned and saw him cradling Felix’s body to his chest and rocking him back and forth in his arms, sobbing and crying out for an answer nobody had.

He felt the a hole burning itself into his pocket where he knew the syringe full of clear liquid was kept hidden away. He knew he could save Felix, could bring him back, but he couldn’t get to him. But he needed to be there  _ now _ , before his soul wandered too far away, so far away that Woojin couldn’t find it and tether if back to his body.

He pulled Chan closer to his chest, the boy unresponsive. He had pushed himself too far to sustain the earthquake and it hadn’t paid off, they were still trapped. He let some of his remaining energy flow into his body and felt him stir slightly. He felt his heart shatter with a sudden, horrific thought: how was he gonna tell Chan that Felix was dead and never coming back? The thought of it terrified him to the core and he knew that some way, somehow, Chan would blame himself for everything that went wrong. Woojin couldn’t let that happen, he needed to fix this.

But he could only watch though as the flames reached higher, blocking off his path. He needed to get there though, to Felix and to Jisung. He needed to bring Felix back, to bring him home.

 

__________

 

Changbin forcefully pushed Minho behind him and pulled a wall of ice up around them. The fire quickly burned through it and he kept adding layer after layer of ice but it was no use, the flames were too strong, they would be done for soon if he didn’t do something and now.

He fumbled for the syringe in his pocket. He held it in shaking hands, a deep sense of dread and horror threatening to take over him but he knew this was the only thing he could do. He raised it to his neck and-

A hand reached out and clamped around his wrist so tightly he flinched and almost dropped the syringe.

_ “No!”  _ Minho yelled, face so close to Changbin’s their noses were nearly touching, “Are you out of your mind?”

“We’re about to die!” He snapped back, “What other choice do we have?”

“What if you lose control though? Then what happens?”

“Then you stop me!”

Minho’s grip slackened and he leaned back, mind in disbelief and nearly unable to process what it just heard. His hands fell limp at his sides. The fire around them had burned through the ice and was quickly approaching but the rest of the world had gone out of focus and became background noise.

Changbin’s arms lowered as well but he still held the syringe in a death grip. His jaw was clenched and he looked afraid but his eyes were determined, “You stop me,” he said again, “Before I do anything stupid. Okay?” His voice almost cracked, “Don’t let me hurt them, please,  you can’t let me hurt them.”

Minho reached out with shaking hands to Changbin’s and pried his fingers from around the syringe, “Let me do it then,” he said, voice thick, “So that if anything  _ does _ happen, it’s my fault, not yours.” Changbin couldn’t say anything, he just nodded.

Minho held the syringe up to the other boy’s neck and stepped closer, so close to him that they were sharing a breath. He inhaled through his nose, “Do you trust me?” He whispered, his voice barely an exhale.

He didn’t hesitate to answer, “I trust you.”

A soft sad, sad smile, “Good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! (Don't kill me pls) but one of my mutuals on Tumblr threw out the idea of me making a gc for people reading Control to talk and idk, yell at me lol. If you're interested, tell me your KKT ID, idk when I'll be able to make the chat but I like the idea


	36. Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ANYWAYS I completely forget to update here fjebfnejdje SORRY

Minho watched in awe as fire and ice met and clashed, one unable to completely take over the other. It was beautiful and horrible at the same time. Never in a million years, a million trials, did he think that their powers, that they themselves, would be pitted against one another and especially not in a situation as dire as this.

He was gripping Changbin’s freezing hand in his own, frost spreading steadily over his fingers. His hand was so cold it hurt but he held on a little tighter tighter, hoping Changbin could feel his hand in his and know that he was still there. He glanced over at the other boy. His eyes were closed, dark lashes brushing against deathly pale cheeks. His face was oddly calm but eerily still, like a picture.

Minho watched for any sign of movement from him but found none, he was frozen like a statue. He gave his hand a last squeeze separating his hand from Changbin’s, their fingers were nearly frozen to one another.

Changbin had said he trusted Minho to keep him from hurting the others. But Minho trusted Changbin to stay in control. With a whispered apology, he turned away, he needed to get to Hyunjin, he needed to fix this. With that thought driving him forward, he began to swivel his body around in search of the source of the flames.

He felt himself being pulled forward and with a final trusting glance at Changbin, Minho ran forward, feet sliding on ice. Tongues of flames reached for him but he twisted away. The room was in utter chaos, the floor cracked and broken, ice racing up the walls, and fire burning everything in its path. It was a miracle that anyone was still alive.

_ There. _

A shadow appeared amidst the flames, unbothered as if it weren’t even being touched. Minho ran towards the shadow, ignoring the singeing flames licking at his sleeves. The shadow came into clear focus.

Hyunjin.

Minho felt his heart sink even lower when he saw him fully.

The boy looked like he was dying. His lips were slightly parted open, blood dripping from his nose and the corners of his mouth. He was on his knees with his head tilted back slightly as if he were unconscious, his hands limp at his sides and brushing the ground. His usual warm eyes were covered by his dark bangs but Minho knew they were pitch black underneath. A ring of fire surrounded him, waving around as if trying to reach even higher.

Minho didn’t hesitate, he couldn’t. He ripped the syringe out of his pocket and inserted the needle into his neck. It worked nearly immediately, his senses sharpening to inhuman accuracy but he used it only to focus Hyunjin, tuning out the fire and the ice and the chaos around him.

He took a running start before diving through the flames to the inner circle. He hit the ground and rolled to a stop before desperately patting out the patches of fire on his clothes. He felt his hands begin to burn but he didn’t stop.

Once they were mostly out, he carefully made his way to Hyunjin and knelt down in front of him. The other boy hadn’t moved, as if he didn’t even know Minho was there. If anything, the flames around them seemed to soar even higher.

Minho reached out with shakily and cupped Hyunjin’s face in his hands. He almost jumped back, his skin was burning hot. More burns seared themselves into Minho’s hands but he forced himself to stay where he was.

Hyunjin let out a low whimper and Minho realized that there were tears running down his face. Except, they weren’t tears, they started out that way but were evaporating into steam once they got far enough down his cheeks.

“It’s okay,” Minho whispered, trying not to let his voice shake too much, his mind too aware of every little scratch and bruise on Hyunjin’s skin. His thumb gently stroked over his cheekbone as the other hand carefully pushed away his dark bangs.

His eyes were forced wide open and pitch black, black as night. Minho could see his own haggard reflection in them. The sight of it chilled him to the core but he forced himself to ignore that for now, he needed to make eye contact, that’s all that mattered.

He ran his hands carefully through Hyunjin’s hair, trying to soothe the boy and gradually, his soft cries began to fade. He leaned in closer and forced himself to stare into his pitch black eyes. Instantly, he felt them connect and he was in control, that was all he needed.

He wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close. Hyunjin curled himself against Minho, as trusting as a child. Smoke began curling from the edge of their clothes but he ignored that, he had Hyunjin. He brought his lips to his ear.

“Hyunjin,” he whispered softly, “Come back.”

Immediately the fire stopped and was gone as Hyunjin’s body went limp in Minho’s arms. He pulled him closer, rubbing circles against his back. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned his head to see an exhausted Changbin fall to his knees next to him. He smiled tiredly at the sight of Hyunjin unconscious, but not hurting anymore and not hurting anybody.

From above, a soft rain had begun to fall even though they were still inside.

__________

 

Seungmin felt his heart drop when he heard the sound of glass shattering behind him. It sank even further when the fire disappeared, his mind immediately assuming the worst.

_ No, not Hyunjin _ , he pleaded silently, fighting back the tears welling up,  _ Please don’t take him away from me,  _ please.

Instead, a light rain began to fall, putting out the remaining fires.

The shattered glass.

Jeongin was behind him. Seungmin vaguely remembered stepping in front of the other boy as if he could somehow protect him against the flames. He turned to see him looking up in wonder. Seungmin followed his gaze up and gasped.

_ Clouds _ , a distant memory whispered,  _ They’re clouds. _ It was raining. Inside, it was raining.

“You used it.” It wasn’t a question, he already knew.

Jeongin nodded slowly, “The fire. It was coming so quickly. I didn’t know what else to do.” He still wasn’t looking at him.

Seungmin didn’t say anything. Something inside him was breaking. First Hyunjin, now Jeongin. He never wanted this to happen, he never wanted the others to suffer the same way he had. But he turned, realizing something, “You didn’t lose control, not like Hyunjin did.”  _ Not like I did. _

He shook his head, “No,” he murmured, “I didn’t. This feels completely normal.” He gestured up at the clouds, his clouds, his rain.

Seungmin didn’t speak for a while. “You’re different.” Was all he said.

Jeongin just nodded, “Yeah, I guess so.”

Nothing else was said but Seungmin knew deep inside that Jeongin could have been the key to the success of this twisted experiment in another time, another trial. He was different but no one had been able to see it.

“Come on,” he said, reaching for Jeongin’s hand, “Let’s find the others.”

 

__________

 

Jisung felt someone trying to pull Felix’s body away from him. 

_ “No!”  _ He screamed, eyes squeezed tightly shut. His wind lashed out at whoever it was, sharp enough to cut. He gripped Felix tighter, he couldn’t let go, ever.

_ “Jisung!” _

Someone was trying to grab him from behind. He jerked his body away, the speed of the wind around him increasing until it was nearly a mini cyclone.

But then a strong pair of arms wrapped around him tightly. They were warm and familiar. He went slack in recognition and the wind died down to nothing.

“Hey.” Chan murmured, rocking him back and forth once he calmed down some. There were long slashes in his sleeves.

“It’s okay.” Woojin said quietly, kneeling down in front of him. His clothes had cuts in the as well.

Jisung’s vision blurred with tears, his guilt welling up and threatening to swallow him whole. He almost didn’t see Woojin set down an empty syringe and shudder.

“Can I see him?” He asked, gesturing to Felix, voice still soft as if he were comforting a frightened animal.

He nodded slowly and allowed Felix to be taken away from him and into Woojin’s arms. Chan enveloped him into his own arms, holding him tight. He curled up against him and cried into his chest.

 

__________

 

Felix felt himself drifting along somewhere and nowhere. He couldn’t feel anything, not pain, not even his own heartbeat. It’s as if he had ceased to exist.

He wanted to open his eyes but couldn’t. Was there even anything to see? He felt himself being pulled in one direction but something else pulled at him. He forced himself to stop.

It felt like someone was holding his hand. A voice whispered in his ear so softly it felt only like a breath.

_ Come back, come back, come back. _

He knew that voice. He squeezed their hand tightly and finally was able to open his eyes. There, far away, he could see it: a light. The hand pulled him towards it. He smiled.

It was time to go home.


	37. Chapter 37

For as long as he would live, whether it be one more hour or for decades, Jisung would never forget the feeling of holding Felix’s still body in his arms. He could still see the red blood spreading and staining his shirt, he could still see his glassy eyes open and staring but unseeing. His only comfort was that Felix had died with a smile on his face that remained with him even now. Even so, he still cried, the hole in his chest still gaping open as if he had been shot. He wasn’t holding Felix anymore but it didn’t stop the tears or the pain. 

Chan was rocking him back and forth and he was thankful to have somebody to lean on but at the same time, he felt awful for not being able to be the one the others could lean on. A sudden thought flashed into his mind and he felt like he was going to be sick.  _ He  _ had been the one to push for them to try to escape, this was  _ his _ fault. If he hadn’t been so adamant about escaping, this wouldn’t have happened, Felix would still be alive.

_ No. _

If they hadn’t tried to escape, he probably wouldn’t even know who Felix was at all, his memories would have been gone, wiped clean and ready for a new trial, a new nightmare. He wasn’t sure which ending was worse.

Suddenly, Chan was moving. He scooped him into his arms and began to run. Jisung squirmed, trying to see why Chan was suddenly running but all he could see was Woojin ahead of them with Felix in his arms. For a moment, he was glad; they hadn’t left him behind.

Chan set Jisung gently on the ground and turned. He was saying something to Woojin and looking at something but Jisung wasn’t paying attention. All he could see was Seungmin and Jeongin stumbling towards them and leaning against one another for support. They looked exhausted but suddenly, Seungmin’s face lit up in shock. Jisung followed his gaze and saw Minho dragging Changbin and Hyunjin towards them as well.

Seungmin and Hyunjin faced each other with matching awestruck stares. He watched as Seungmin’s eyes filled with tears and as he shoved Hyunjin in the chest almost angrily, “I thought you were dead!” He cried.

Hyunjin would have fallen if it hadn’t been for Minho catching him but his smile was sad and apologetic, “I’m so sorry.” He whispered and Jisung realized he was crying too.

Seungmin didn’t say anything else, just threw his arms around Hyunjin and cried into his chest. Hesitantly, Hyunjin wrapped his arms around him but soon pulled him closer, “Never again,” he whispered, “For you, for me, for any of us, never again.” Slowly, Seungmin nodded and pulled away.

Jisung wasn’t sure what had happened between them but it didn’t matter anymore, it was okay now. He had been so absorbed in just watching the others that he almost didn’t feel the hand that had reached out and grasped his own lightly. He jumped and almost pulled away until he realized who it was and suddenly, as exhausted as he was, he was yelling and nearly jumping up and down.

_ Felix _ .

It was him, eyes open and bright, a smile, an actual smile. He was there and alive and holding his hand. His smile grew and Jisung tackled him to the ground in a hug, still yelling and crying.

If he hadn’t been so absorbed in this moment with Felix, he would have seen the looks of confusion the others shared or the quiet, sad smile on Seungmin’s lips. He would have seen Chan reach out and squeeze Woojin’s shoulder, the other boy full of relief. Maybe one day, they would tell the others. For now, it didn’t matter, they had something else to worry about: the ground had begun to rumble.

Their eyes flew to Chan but he looked confused as well. They were all confused until Jeongin gasped and pointed behind Chan. They turned and felt their hearts and hopes drop.

A massive horde of black clothed guards were marching towards them. Where they had come from, they had no idea, but their intentions were clear: to kill them.

Jisung saw a piece of ice snake past him on the ground but it didn’t get far. He heard a gasp behind him and turned to see Changbin nearly doubled over in pain. A few sparks were alight in Hyunjin’s hands but they were weak and his arms shook with effort. Chan’s foot tapped against the floor, desperately trying to send a tremor through the ground but nothing happened. Jeongin’s fingers were grasping at the air but no water came from it.

“I don’t know what we’re gonna do.” Minho whispered, “We can’t do anything.” The guards were getting closer, their guns aiming at them. One went off with a deafening bang and others soon followed. Chan and Woojin leapt in front of them as if to protect them but the bullets stopped dead in their tracks.

Felix had stepped out with a hand outstretched towards the bullets, freezing them in the air. His expression was dark, completely different from the smile he had shared with Jisung just moments before. “Run!” He yelled, glancing back at them over his shoulder. A flick of his hand sent the bullets back where they had come from and bodies began to fall, the floor splattered with red.

Jisung watched Felix carefully, he was ready to drag him away. He kept glancing back as if making sure no one was watching him, he hadn’t seen Jisung. When he was certain no one was watching anymore, he pulled out a syringe from his pocket. It was full of clear liquid. Jisung gasped, Felix heard.

His eyes widened in shock, “Please,” he begged, his voice a fierce whisper, “Please don’t stop me. Let me do this.” Jisung didn’t get the chance to reply, a guard had tackled him to the ground.

He hit hard, all the air  _ whooshed _ out of his lungs. He couldn’t see Felix or the others, the world was all black and pain. He tried to yell but a horrible sound cut him off. The noise was enough to make even the guards freeze and he was able to sit up.

The walls were beginning breaking down,  _ no _ , they were being crushed. Lights began to flicker and go out as chunks of the ceiling began to rain down on them as the building crumpled in on itself and somehow, Jisung knew this was because of Felix and because of the syringe.

He felt a gun jab into his side and panicked. A gust of wind sent the guard straight up into the air and away from him. He scrambled to his feet and desperately searched for the others but there was only a sea of black.

_ No. _

_ I can’t lose you. _

But he remembered Felix, and he remembered the syringe.  _ His _ syringe.

_ But I can find you. _

He pulled it out of his pocket. Another guard was running at him but a wave of his free hand and a gust of wind sent him flying. More were coming so he swallowed his fear and plunged the syringe into his neck.

And he could  _ feel  _ it.

He could feel every single particle of air, he could feel the breaths of every single person around him. It was amazing and terrifying at the same time. He needed to act now though, his vision was already going dark, his mind threatening to shut down.

He reached out and searched for eight familiar breaths. Felix, Woojin, Chan, Hyunjin, Seungmin, Jeongin, Minho, Changbin. His brothers, his family.

_  I found you. _

_ I will protect you. _

_ And I will make sure you get out of here. _

_  I Iromise. _

His wind was more powerful than it had ever been before. He sent tendrils of it to those eight familiar breaths and wrapped them in wind.

He felt arms wrapping around him and bringing him down to the ground but he didn’t care. His vision was getting darker but he needed to hold on just a little bit longer.

He envisioned the hole Felix had created earlier. It had taken out nearly the entire far wall, it was their exit, their way out. He had all eight of them grasped in his wind.

_ ‘Jisung?’  _ Minho’s panicked voice filled his mind,  _ ‘What are you doing? Jisung, please, answer me.’ _ But he couldn’t, he heard him but couldn’t reply, he was too absorbed in the air around him.

One by one, he let a strong gust of wind fly underneath them and launch them to the exit. He didn’t worry, he knew the wind, he trusted it to keep them safe. He worked quickly before the building fell and his vision went out completely. Soon, he was done, they were all out and finally, he let his body give out.

Arms were still clutching to him and bringing him down but it didn’t matter anymore, he was done. The only thing he could see was darkness so he closed his eyes. He smiled and was still smiling as the building gave one final shudder and collapsed.

 

__________

 

Seungmin hit the ground but it didn’t hurt, he didn’t feel any impact at all but he was disoriented and confused. All he could remember was a sea of black overwhelming him but then a gust of wind had curled around him and he was flying.

He sat up and looked down at himself. His clothes were covered in dirt. He tried brushing some off with his hands but froze.

Dirt.

_ Dirt. _

He was covered in dirt. He had landed in dirt. He was sitting in dirt. Not on a hard white floor, but  _ dirt _ .

_ We made it. _

He leapt to his feet, head swiveling every which way trying to take in everything at once. They were outside, they had made it. He wanted to laugh and he wanted to cry. But then he saw the others and realized something was horribly wrong.

He looked around again and felt it: something was off, something wasn’t right. A distant memory he couldn’t quite grasp tugged on the edge of his consciousness and he began to count.

Hyunjin, Woojin, Jeongin, Chan, Changbin, Felix, Minho, and himself.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

_No_ .

He tried again but that’s all there was.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

_ No, no, no _ .

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

_ Nine, there should be nine. _

_ Why isn’t there nine? _

The world was going out of focus. He couldn’t hear, it was as it he were underwater. He looked around and could only see looks of pain and tears. And Minho.

He saw him jump up and try to run back towards the now collapsed building but Chan ran out in front of him and grabbed him by the waist. He was holding him back but his face was full of pain. He didn’t want to do this.

Minho was trying so hard to break free from Chan but couldn’t. Seungmin could see the tears running down his face and his lips trying to form words.

It all felt surreal. They were out but it was  _ wrong _ . It wasn’t supposed to be like this, it wasn’t supposed to end this way.

He knew someone should be helping Chan but no one had the heart to try and hold Minho back. Perhaps Chan was the only one strong enough to realize that this was their end and he had to protect and hold close what he had left. And tt was breaking his heart.

Slowly, Seungmin stood up and so were the others around him. He looked up at the sky, It was dark out, night time. He saw a few stars blinking at him but not many. He always thought that somehow the world would be a little bit brighter, even at night.

His head was slowly clearing and coming back. One last time, he counted.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

He tried to swallow his tears but couldn’t and they spilled out onto his cheeks. He felt someone wrap an arm around him and pull him close. Hyunjin. He turned and cried against his shoulder.

When he looked up again, he could see and hear clearly. It was still dark out but he could still make out the figure of Minho still fighting against Chan. His movements were laced with exhaustion but his voice was shrill and hoarse from overuse, nearly gone by now. The raw pain in his voice shook Seungmin to the core.

It was only now that he realized that Minho had been screaming one word the entire time. The piece that was missing from him, a person, a name.

_ “Jisung!" _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to yell at me :')


	38. Chapter 38

Felix couldn’t move, he couldn’t breathe, he barely felt alive. He desperately searched for Jisung but knew he would never find him. All he could see was his remaining seven brothers, broken and defeated.

Chan was still holding onto Minho. The other boy hadn’t stopped fighting to break free but he was running out of energy, his cries slowly becoming weaker. Jeongin was on his knees, sobbing into his hands. Changbin was next to him, rubbing circles against his back. His head was bent low, face hidden, but his shoulders were shaking. Hyunjin and Seungmin were leaning against one another for support, both silently mourning together. Woojin stood off to the side alone, eyes filled with concern and scanning over everyone. Who needed help, who needed comfort, who needed healing? The wrongness of it all made Felix sick to his stomach.

He stared down at his hands. They were caked with dirt and plaster. And they were covered in blood. Not actual blood, there was no red to be seen, but he knew the lives he had taken were etched into his skin. They would be with him forever. These were the hands that brought down buildings, that could bring down entire cities.

These were the hands that killed Han Jisung.

He gasped, eyes suddenly filling with tears. He mouthed a silent apology over and over again,  _ I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.  _ He hoped that somehow, the other boy would hear him, and forgive him.

He jumped, someone had come up behind him and put their hand on his shoulder. Woojin. He smiled kindly at him, eyes full of sorrow, “Hey,” he said softly, “I’m glad to see you back.”

Felix sniffled, wiping his eyes with his sleeve, “What do you mean ‘back’?” He asked, voice hoarse, “I didn’t go anywhere.”

Woojin let out a soft, breathless  _ oh _ , “You don’t remember.”

He glanced at him from the corner of his eye, suspicious and wary, “What, what do you mean? What do I not remember? Woojin, what happened to me?”

A pause. He didn’t want to tell him. Finally, “Felix,” he said slowly, “You died. You were dead. I brought you back to life.”

He froze, “I, I  _ died _ ?”

Woojin reached out and gently touched his chest. He looked down. There was a hole in his shirt right where his heart was. Surrounding it was a patch of red. Blood. His blood. He hadn’t even realized.

His eyes widened in shock, “How did this- when did this happen? What happened?”

Woojin shook his head, “I don’t know. Chan and got to you after it happened. I used my syringe to find you and bring you back.”

Felix sat back on his heels, his mind whirling and unable to process what he had just heard. He had died. He shouldn’t be alive right now. It all felt wrong. A dark thought creeped into his mind.  _ Jisung is the one who should be alive right now, not you. _

But Woojin’s words tugged at a distant feeling, a memory. He desperately reached out to it, to cling to it. He needed to know what this was, he needed for something to make sense. With one final effort, he reached out. And he remembered.

_He_ remembered opening his eyes to pitch black nothing. He remembered feeling like he was drifting. It’s as if his soul had been trying to wander away from his body but it never got far. Something was holding him back, something had been holding onto him. Then there was something tugging at his hand and a light. Then there was Jisung. He had shouted when he saw Felix, held onto him and was nearly jumping up and down. Then, he was gone. In the blink of an eye, gone.

Slowly, he stood up and wiped his tears away. No more crying. All he could see was the collapsed building, reduced to a pile of rubble.

He was there. Somewhere, in there, he was there. Felix had to find him. He needed to bring him home. His apologies turned to promises, and he took off running back to his prison.

_ I promise to bring you back, I promise to bring you home. _

He must have caught the others by surprise, no one reached out and stopped him the way Chan had stopped Minho. He heard Woojin cry out but he had already made it.

Piece by piece, he began to dig into what remained of the building he brought down. The jagged edges of rock and shards of glass cut into his hands but he didn’t stop, he had promises to keep.

What are you doing Felix?” Chan demanded, grabbing onto his wrist, stopping him momentarily.

“I’m looking for Jisung!” He snapped back, wrenching his hand free.

“Felix he’s,” he stopped short, taking a breath, “He’s gone.”

“ _ No!”  _ He yelled, “He isn’t! I brought this building down, and I would never hurt him! He’s alive, he has to be, and I’m not stopping until I find him.” He paused for a breath, voice lowering, “I know it was him. I know he was the one who held me when I was, when I was dead.” His voice broke, he close to tears, “He held me, and he kept me here. He saved me just as much as Woojin did, and I can’t, I can’t leave him behind like this, I can’t”

Chan was frozen, unable to speak. Felix turned back to the rubble, he didn’t have the time to waste but a hand found his. He turned again.

It was Minho. He looked more exhausted than Felix had ever seen him. But still, he squeezed Felix’ hand once before bending down and tearing away at the pieces of destroyed building. On his other side, Changbin joined them and began to help as well. The others were coming closer.

Felix was about to turn to help again but he saw Chan out of the corner of his eye and realized the other boy was crying. They were silent tears, he only began to wipe them away when he realized that he had been caught.

“I’m sorry,” he choked out. He looked as if he wanted to say more but he decided against it, shaking his head, “Let’s find him. We have to.” He said as he bent down to help.

The sun began to rise but they didn’t stop. Their progress was slow, all of them too exhausted to go on, but somehow, they did.

Every now and then, they would uncover the body of a black uniformed guard. They didn’t matter anymore though, it wasn’t who they were looking for.

It felt hopeless, the building had been huge, how were they gonna find him? But they each knew, they would never stop, not until Jisung was found. They would never be whole again. It was too much for them to bear, like a piece of them had gone missing.

Every once in a while, Felix would try to lift a piece of debris with his mind but it refused to budge, he was completely drained. And so he used his hands. They were covered in little cuts, the red blood mixing with dirt.

The sun was overhead when Felix’s hand brushed against another person’s hand. He thought it was just a guard at first and he turned away, mind telling him there was nothing to see here. Except the hand was clamped tightly around another person’s wrist, their hand much smaller, their wrist much thinner. He frowned and began to push away the debris.

He brushed away more and more dust. The first hand he saw  _ had _ belonged to a guard, his black uniform covered in white bits. But his fingers brushed against the skin of the other person and he felt his blood go cold. Tossing away another piece of rock, he could see it: the sleeve of a white shirt.

“ _ It’s him, it’s him, it’s him!” _

His screams set everyone running to him as he desperately dug. They began to help him. Their hands were shaking and he swore he heard someone crying but bit by bit, he was found.

They drug him from underneath bits of building and the bodies of several guards that had tried to take him down. His hair and face were covered in bits of plaster and dust. Cuts and bruises marred his visible skin in a myriad of pain filled color, but he was there. Hesitantly, Felix reached out and pulled him close to hold him. He didn’t move and for a split second, he feared the worst. But then he felt it.

A heartbeat.

His face broke out into a relieved grin that soon turned into tears. He felt someone try to take Jisung from him but he couldn’t let go, he bent his head low and cried into his chest.

He felt arms wrap around him and he knew, it was them, it was his family. They were here, they were alive, they were whole, and they were free. With the nine of them together, it felt right again.

He sat up quickly when he felt Jisung move. He was coughing, body shaking. But then his eyes fluttered open.

He frowned, blinking up at them, “Are you guys dead too?”

Felix let out a sound that was between a laugh and a sob. Seungmin shook his head. “No, you idiot.” But he was smiling, eyes watery.

“You’re alive.” Woojin smiled.

Jisung smiled back, taking all of them in, “No,  _ we’re _ alive.”

__________

 

Theytook turn carrying Jisung until he could walk again, He insisted that he was fine but no one wanted to let go of him. They didn’t want to let go of each other, either. They moved with each other, arms slung around one another’s shoulders, hands clasped together. Small, idle conversations broke out. Someone would say something every now and then and it would make them all laugh.

They had gotten their wish to escape. Their wish now was for everything to stay the way it was together. In a way, that wish was already fulfilled because they had each other. That was all they needed.

They weren’t sure where they were going but they didn’t care. As long as they were together and as long as all the tests and the trials were behind them, it didn’t matter.

“I don’t know what’s gonna happen to us,” Chan had said at one point, “But know that I’ll take care of you, and that if they ever come back for us, I’ll die if it means you’re safe,”

“I will too.” Woojin said. Chan smiled softly at him as the others nodded in agreement. They were a family, family looked after one another.

“No matter where we go, we’ll be okay.” Hyunjin said smiling, “I’m not worried, because it’s us. If we can live through what we did, there’s nothing in this world that we can’t face.”

They nodded again and walked on in silence for a time. It was getting dark again when Minho walked up beside Jisung and intertwined their fingers.

He smiled as Jisung sent a lazy, playful breeze to ruffle his already messy hair. Their powers were slowly coming back to them but they all needed some actual rest.

“I missed you.” He said softly.

His eyebrow quirked upward, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, “I wasn’t gone long.”

Minho squeezed his hand, “It was long enough.”

Slowly, he nodded, “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head, “Don’t apologize, you saved us. But,” his voice softened, “Please, don’t ever leave me again.”

Jisung smiled, soft and sad, “I won’t” They paused their walking and he leaned forward to press their foreheads together. They stood like that for a moment, just soaking in each other’s presence, their thereness.

“Hey!” Felix’s voice sounded far away, the group had moved on without them but not far. They ran to catch up, “Look at that!” He was pointing to something.

It was a large green sign with an arrow and a few words pointing straight ahead. An empty road lay ahead of them but if they looked down it far enough, they could make out some distant lights.

Changbin approached the sign slowly. He traced his fingers lightly against the arrow and letters, “This way to,” he paused, the next word unfamiliar, “Seoul. Seoul.” He said again, more confident.

_ Seoul _ .

The others tried to word on their tongues. It was new but it felt right, like it was meant for them. They smiled at the sign, at the road, at the distant lights, at each other.

“Is this where we wanna go?” Chan asked. They nodded and Minho bowed to him jokingly with a flourish, “Lead the way.” Chan shook his head, hiding his laughter, but he began to walk, and they followed.

They went along the side of road. It was night so it was empty. Perhaps that was a good thing. Their appearance was more than slightly suspicious and none of them were ready to explain what had happened to them yet. So they walked on into the night.

The sun was just beginning to rise behind them when they made it to the top of a hill. Someone gasped out loud. There, before them was the most beautiful place they had ever seen. It was lights and color and sound and life. Seoul.

Seungmin’s eyes were shining with hope, “Is that our new home?”

No one was sure how to answer except for Jeongin, “No,” he said, “That isn’t home. Seoul isn’t home.” They turned to him, confused, but he only smiled at them, at his brothers and his family, and he knew.

“This is home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How we feelin?


	39. Epilogue

_ 2 months later _

Chan sighed tiredly as he walked through the door, shutting it softly behind him. It was nearly four in the morning and he was just getting home from work. He had managed to get a job as a convenience store clerk a few weeks ago. It wasn’t necessarily a hard job but he took too many double shifts and worked too much overtime. At least, that’s what Woojin said. It’s not like he didn’t do the same.

It hadn’t been easy when they first arrived in Seoul. The city was beautiful yes, but they had nothing, no money, no one here to help them, nothing. Only the clothes on their backs, a dark past, and each other. On that first night, they slept clinging to one another in the cold rain. Well, some of them slept.

Over time, it got better. They would try and find work, doing whatever they could find that would pay. They saved whatever they could and slept on the streets until they were able to rent this dingy, one bedroom apartment where they lived now. The walls were cracked and the lights only worked half the time but they had made it theirs. It was the best home they had ever had.

He poked his head into their shared room and smiled to himself. They didn’t have any beds, only a few blankets and each other. He could make out Seungmin and Minho curled against each other near the far wall, Hyunjin, Felix, and Jisung were laying so close together, they were nearly on top of one another, and Woojin had Jeongin tucked underneath his arm. The room was a bit warm but Chan supposed that was because of Hyunjin. They had been careful about using their powers since they escaped but they still manifested in small ways.

He frowned, eyes sweeping over the room again. Someone was missing. Leaning back out of the bedroom he could see Changbin laying against the wall of the main room, chin tucked into his chest, asleep. How Chan had missed him when he walked in, he wasn’t sure. He must’ve been trying to wait for him to get home but accidentally fell asleep. He shook his head; he had told him and the others numerous times to not wait up on him. Still shaking his head, he walked over and lifted the boy into his arms. Only after they escaped did Chan realize how small the other boy actually was. He and the others teased him for it a bit but he always played along. Chan did, however, make sure he and the rest were eating enough. They had been deprived of enough in their lives and he always wanted to make sure he could provide for them.

Ge was going to take Changbin to their bedroom but jumped slightly when he heard someone banging on the door. He was torn between putting his brother to bed or yelling at the person at the door to be quiet or else they would wake the others. He bit his tongue and started towards the bedroom again but the banging on the door resumed, louder this time.

“What the hell, it’s four in the morning.” He muttered to himself before stalking over and yanking the door open, Changbin still miraculously asleep in his arms despite the noise and jostling. He was cold, but then again, he always was.

It was one of his co-workers. He grinned and waved, a brown bottle swinging in the other hand, obviously drunk out of his mind. Chan wrinkled his nose; he reeked of alcohol.

“Hey,” he slurred, lurching forward drunkenly.

Chan to a step back, turning away slightly and clutching Changbin closer to his chest, “What do you want?” He asked, eyes glaring.

He didn’t seem to notice Chan’s ill concealed anger, “Hey man, if you could take my shift today, that would be totally great.” He smiled crookedly at Chan as if he was doing him a favor, not the other way around.

Still though, Chan considered it. An extra shift meant a little extra money in his pocket. It meant maybe he could buy a few extra things for the boys. It meant one more step to a better life.

“What time does your shift start?”

“At five.”

“This afternoon?”

“Nah, man, this morning.”

He spluttered, “This morning? So you mean your shift starts in an hour?”

“Yeah, yeah. Look, I would really appreciate it. I promise it won’t happen again, just bail me out this one time.” Another sloppy grin.

Chan wanted nothing more than to slam the door in his face, pack up his boys, and move as far away as possible. But he knew that wasn’t possible. So instead he swallowed his pride and anger and opened his mouth to say yes, promising himself to slam the door as soon as he did.

But a hand settled on his shoulder, stopping him, and then there was someone standing beside him. His dark hair was messy and he must have just woken up but he looked wide awake.

“No thanks, he can’t, sorry.” Woojin’s said, gaze cool. He began to close the door but Chan’s co-worker angrily shoved him in the chest, “What the hell, man? He was just about to say yes, right Channie-ah? Who the hell do you even think you are?”

That was it.

Chan roughly shoved Changbin into Woojin’s arm, catching him by surprise. He stumbled briefly to not drop the boy and he woke with a start. They heard the sound of glass shattering and swiveled their heads to see the shards of broken bottle on the ground.

Chan stood over his drunk co-worker, furious, “Don’t touch him,” he growled, “Don’t you dare touch any of my brothers, got it? Stay away from us. And I’m not taking your shift.” He added as he stepped back inside and slammed the door in his face. The earth rumbled underneath them menacingly. The walls shook, cracks spreading further up the walls, bits of paint chipping off. The floor groaned and trembled, threatening to give out underneath them.

“Hyung?”

He blinked slightly in surprise at the word, all his previous anger gone in an instant, and the earth stilled. Changbin was looking up at him with wide eyes from where Woojin was holding him close. He was starting to get used to the younger boys calling him ‘hyung’ but it still caught him off guard every now and then. There was still so much he had to learn.

Woojin set Changbin down and ruffled his hair, “Go to bed Binnie, you still have a few hours before you have to get up.” He hesitated though, glancing between the two eldest but Woojin gave him a gentle shove and he was gone.

Once they were alone, Woojin reached out and grabbed Chan’s hand. He led him to the wall where Changbin had been asleep just moments before. They didn’t say anything for a while, just waited and counted each other’s breaths.

Chan studied him for a moment, wondering what he wanted to say. It could be anything from the dark circles under his eyes, to the hours he worked, or the less and less they saw him. They had had this conversation, this argument, a thousand times before.

But all he said was, “We need to move. It isn’t safe here, not for the kids.”

Slowly, he nodded in agreement, “Soon hopefully. I wanna see if we can get them into school too. If they want to go, that is.” It was an idea he had brought up a few times but never pushed. He wouldn’t push it now, either. If they didn’t want to go, he wouldn’t make them. Everything had changed for them in such a short amount of time, it seemed like too much for them to take on right at this moment. Whenever you’re ready, he had said.

“Yeah.” He paused, “That doesn’t mean you need to work all day and night though.” He glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, tracing patterns with his fingers against the top of his hand, “I’m worried about you.”

“I’m worried about you too.” Chan replied, “You left yesterday morning at three and didn’t get home until who knows when.” He had already gone to work by then himself.

“Eleven last night, almost twelve actually.” He murmured, eyes downcast, and Chan realized how tired Woojin was, how tired they both were, “It’s okay though, it’s for them.”

“For them.” Chan agreed, nodding.

Everything they did was so that they could give the others a better life than they had. They weren’t the only ones working hard though, Minho and Changbin were both working as well but Chan and Woojin wouldn’t let them work as many hours as they did. Maybe it was hypocritical of them but it was because they cared. They hadn’t let the others work yet, they were too young. However, every now and then, a bit of extra money would find its way into Chan’s pockets when he wasn’t looking. He had a feeling where it came from but he never truly questioned it. As long as it isn’t illegal, was all he said. Or more so, as long as they didn’t get caught.

“Channie-ah?”

He was startled out of his thoughts by Woojin’s voice, but his heart warmed at the nickname all the same; it always did. It was the same feeling he got when Jeongin smiled up at him, cheeks dimpled, eyes pulled into little crescent moons, and calling him his hyung. He squeezed the other boy’s hand, “Yeah, Woojinnie-ah?”

“Will we,” he paused before shaking his head, “Nevermind, forget I said anything.”

Chan frowned and closed his eyes. He had seen the worry painted on the other boy’s face, he was sure he looked the same. There was so much to do and so much that could go wrong, it was a little terrifying. But they had made it this far, they could keep going, as long as they had each other.

A moment later, he felt Woojin’s head on his shoulder; he had fallen asleep. He smiled softly to himself before giving his hand another gentle squeeze.

“We’ll be okay.” He whispered, closing his eyes.

There was always tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah so we've made it haha. Wow.
> 
> First things first, you guys that have been around for a bit, maybe for this fic, maybe even for All I Need and Every Little Piece, you may have noticed the change in username. This is to match my Tumblr URL. That's all, just wanted to point that out and avoid any confusion.
> 
> Now *claps hands together* it's time to get emotional, grab your tissues.
> 
> So my second full AU. It's kinda insane to look back the the beginning of it and see how much I've grown and improved as a writer, I'm proud of myself. I'll only get better from here, so let's goooo!!!
> 
> Thank you everyone who has made it this far, you guys are my motivation to do better and put out more content and I appreciate you guys so much. I hope you guys have enjoyed this story as much as I have had writing it, it was a blast.
> 
> I'm certainly not done writing for this group, I love them so much. I'll be back soon enough. Wait for me until then.
> 
> Thanks so much, I can never say it enough.
> 
> ~spearones

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


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